Hamlet, By William Shakespeare

In this play “Hamlet” written by William Shakespeare, there are many soliloquies that are said by Hamlet to depict various meanings of his thoughts, feelings, and actions that are inside of him. More specifically the soliloquy in Act 3, Scene 1, in lines 57-91 starts off with the famous saying known as “To be, or not to be”. Throughout this soliloquy, Hamlet is asking himself the question of whether it is better to live or not to live. In life, we are faced with many situations where we feel the need to give up our life and not face the problems. Only by facing all the troubles, will a person become stronger and more courageous to handle anything in life. By believing in one’s self, can man have the courage to follow what they think is right. Killing yourself or giving up is never a solution in life. This soliloquy reveals Hamlet’s fearful personality by showing that his decision-making process is slow and that he fears risks or uncertainty. These character traits are depicted thoroughly by Hamlet throughout the play.

Hamlet's rant to persuade her that Claudius is a bad man and the murderer of his father depicts his disrespect to his mother. For instance, he tells her, "You go not till I set you up a glass / Where you may see the inmost part of you." (III.iv.20-21) He is threatening his own mother! Later, he addresses her as "thou wretched, rash, intruding fool" (III.iv.32) Even though Gertrude's lust for Claudius aggravates him, Hamlet fails to show even the most fundamental respect to his superior. The relationship is full of disloyalty and distrust from Gertrude's part. First, she appeases, "Be thou assured... I have no life to breathe what thou hast said to me." (III.iv.201-203) It is assumed that she will listen to Hamlet and stay away from Claudius. However, in the next act, she displays her true loyalty to her husband, telling him that Hamlet is "in this brainish apprehension kills / The unseen good old man." (IV.I.12-13) This is partially contributed by her observations of her son talking to a ghost that she doesn't see. Polonius' death causes her to think Hamlet is dangerous, further driving the two apart. Her distrust to her son harms him by further solidifying Claudius' plan to execute him in England because the king sees him as a threat to the throne who is capable of killing. In the end, Hamlet and Gertrude's relationship take a bittersweet ending.

Almost every story involves a conflict between hero and villain. In some stories, there is a plot twist where the hero is also the villain—but in Hamlet, there are no heroes and many villains. In Hamlet, every character has lied, kept secrets or is seeking revenge that leads to a tragic ending at every corner, but what we fail to see is who the true villain is. Looking at the character of Hamlet throughout the play, it is easier to spot his many dishonorable actions than his few honorable ones.

In addition, Gertrude goes through a moment where she is figuratively blind when making a judgment. When Hamlet told her about how King Hamlet was killed she didn’t believe it. He says she has been blind this whole time to it and even though Claudius appears innocent he is not. Gertrude married soon after King Hamlet’s death because her love and loneliness blinded her. This led to her to make incestuous actions. Hamlet is annoyed with his mother and how naive she is to his father’s death:

Before we make any conclusion regarding the character of Gertrude, we should understand the norms of the society in which she lives in. Established order of the society is maintained through the process of socialization. Petriarchy power structure of 16th century is well represented in Hamlet and judged as a mysterious character. Gertrude in Hamlet holds the political power within the traditional power structure and also has potentially has the power to collapse within that structure. Gertrude fails to represent the moral of society as a queen of the state by marrying Claudius, but she completely believes in the standards set for women by the society. She appreciates qualities like-youth, beauty and purity- in Ophelia:

Naturally, the initial reaction of Gertrude was extremely melodramatic, which is portrayed as her being weak and emotional. Hamlet automatically replies to Gertrude’s emotional outburst by accusing her of the “bloody deed” of assisting Claudius with killing the king, who also happens to be Hamlet’s father and Gertrude’s former husband. By saying “almost as bad, good mother, as kill a king and marry with his brother,” Hamlet points out that she acts as if she is such a wonderful mother, while in fact she is a murderer. This shows the categorization of Gertrude that occurs, the assumption that she could only be either a “Mary” or an

Although there is speculation that Gertrude had an affair with Claudius before her husband’s death, this is highly unlikely due to the way Shakespeare developed Gertrude as a character, despite the Ghost referring to her as “that incestuous, that adulterate beast.” (Hamlet I.v.49). She is the epitome of the “pampered woman” stereotype that surrounds female royalty, as she is remarkably shallow and lacks empathy, as when she recommends that Hamlet stop grieving immediately in Act I. While her simplistic mindset would make her a likely candidate to have extramarital relations, her relationship with Claudius suggests that he views her more as a trophy wife than a forbidden love. Gertrude also seemed much like a child in the play, rather than a

Hamlet’s distress sparks rumors of insanity, and when Polonius claims he has discovered the cause of Hamlet’s hysteria Gertrude says to Claudius, “I doubt it is no other but the main\ His father’s death and our hasty marriage” (2.2.56-57). By saying this, Gertrude admits the situation is twisted and a reasonable cause for Hamlet’s unusual behavior. At this point, Gertrude is alone with Claudius where she can safely imply that the marriage was wrong. When in public, Gertrude must pretend like it is normal to influence the people. Immediately after promising to not tell anyone about Hamlet killing Polonius, Gertrude goes and tells Claudius.

Throughout the play, it is evident that Hamlet is impulsive and does not control his emotions, while Gertrude contains the small amount of emotion she dares show. An example of this is when Hamlet kills Polonius. In 3.4, Hamlet hears a voice in his mother’s closet, and swiftly murders the person speaking, without first checking to see who it is. Gertrude’s reaction to the death is more calm, as she only asks, “O me, what hast thou done?” (3.4.26).

Gertrude is the Queen of Denmark and Hamlet’s mother. In the play she is portrayed as an unknown character who is merely watching the action unfold around her and as Graf puts it “The words of other characters both affect negatively and make awry our interpretations about her character and choices” (Graf, 16). Gertrude is often read as a sensuous female, lacking in any of the qualities of a decent woman of her time or position. She can be considered as a voiceless and silent female character since she does not have many lines in the play and she depends mostly on the male characters, Hamlet, Claudius and the Ghost. Although Gertrude seems not to have any part in the death of King Hamlet, she is seen as the root of the problems surrounding

Gertrude was Hamlet’s mother. She was a selfish and evil woman. She cheated on Hamlet’s father with Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle. She married Claudius a month after her husband’s death.

Someone might wonder whether Gertrude really is concealing some knowledge about a murder, but in Act II, scene 2, there is evidence that Gertrude really hasn't taken part in the plot. Hamlet suspects her of being an accomplice with Claudius in his father's murder. It's too bad, therefore, that Hamlet doesn't hear Gertrude's private conversation with Claudius in which she gives her theory about Hamlet's anger:

Hamlet is a complex play that leaves the reader with a variety of uncertainties concerning the true feelings of its protagonist, Prince Hamlet. Hamlet goes through a variety of tribulations throughout the play and their effects cause readers to question his true intentions as well as his sanity. Inevitably, one major problem is the trouble discerning whether Hamlet truly loves Ophelia or if the love is a continued theatric in his act of madness. However, it is my argument that Hamlet truly did love Ophelia and the chain of unfortunate events occurring throughout the play caused a disconnect between Prince Hamlet and reality, thus preventing him from truly acting out his love for Ophelia in fullness.

Although written over 400 hundred years ago, Hamlet remains a puzzling and complex play, partially due to the ambiguous Queen Gertrude. The Queen is a puzzling character as her motives are unclear and readers question her intentions throughout the play. Townsend and Pace in "The Many Faces Of Gertrude: Opening And Closing Possibilities In Classroom Talk" view her “as a simple-minded, shallow woman...who has no self beyond a sexual one” while Harmonie Loberg in "Queen Gertrude: Monarch, Mother, Murderer" sees Gertrude as murderess who “is responsible for the death of Ophelia.” Although Gertrude seems innocent of the death of King Hamlet, Graf believes “Gertrude is considered to be guilty not by her own actions or words but by the words of two key characters, Hamlet and the Ghost;” these two characters suggest that the Queen is “sensuous and disloyal,” even if not openly aware of her first husband’s murder (Graf). These contrasting views of Queen Gertrude reveal the many possible answers to readers who question whether Queen Gertrude’s words and actions are genuine or self-serving. Queen Gertrude, although a fairly minor character, is a primary example of dramatic irony in the play as she is evidently unaware of the murder of her first husband and her new husband’s plot to eliminate her son. Her seeming disloyalty in marrying Claudius less than two months after King Hamlet’s death, her seemingly willful naivete at those who conspire against Hamlet, and her apparent tendency to

    Is Gertrude an ignorant mother and wife in the play, or did she put up a facade of ignorance for Hamlet and the public eye from something more sinister? Well, Queen Gertrude is one of the most complex and mysterious characters in “Hamlet,” because of her lack of emotion and grounds on the effect of her late husband’s death on Hamlet. Additionally, her uncanny encounters, or suggestions, with other characters presents another perspective of her knowing that Hamlet had knowledge of her sinister ways. Therefore, Gertrude gave the impression of an  innocent character, but she put up a facade of ignorance to hide her sinister acts to Hamlet and the public eye. On account of that she had an affair with Claudius, knew about the murder of King Hamlet, and known the instant marriage’s effect on Hamlet’s ecstasy, through the encounters, or suggestions, with other characters.