Hamlet and Gertrude's Relationship Essay

Hamlet puts off avenging his father’s death because of his severe Oedipus complex. Hamlet did not kill Claudius until his mother had already died. This is a sign that Hamlet did not want to hurt his mother because of the sexual feelings he had for her. Hamlet felt that killing Claudius would hurt his mother too much, and he could not do that to her. Hamlet wants to save Gertrude form Claudius because of his feelings for her, his incestual feelings, not maternal ones. Subconsciously the queen knows the effect she has on her son. Gertrude tries to play off that fact that’s she knows about Hamlet’s feeling several times in the play. Gertrude is very fond of her son and wants to protect him however she can. This can be seen in the play, many times even up to when Gertrude is about to die. She tries to save Hamlet from drinking the poison himself. She also decided not to tell Claudius that Hamlet knows what Claudius has done.

By the end of this scene, however, we see that she is penitent and appears willing to help her son. This exhibits how easily Gertrude is persuaded by Hamlet's incessant persistence, and emphasises her tendency to be dominated by, and mistreated by men, even to the extent of her own son. Gertrude's mistreatment is also obvious within her relationship to Claudius. For example, When Gertrude tells Claudius of Polonius' slaughter by Hamlet, rather than fret about the danger posed to his wife; he remarks that has he "been there," it would have been dangerous to him.

Similar to Ophelia, Gertrude experiences her son’s ill demeanor when during their conversation in her bedroom. After killing Polonius, Gertrude responds with, “O, what rash and bloody deed this is” (3.4.33), a statement which perfectly captures the crime that Hamlet committed. Again Hamlet takes

When a parent dies, you need someone to fall back on. This person helps you get through it and make you feel loved. If you do not have someone there to help you through this time, you often turn to other things like acting crazy and wanting to take your own life because you feel as if you are not loved and you want to get rid of the pain. Hamlet loved his father and his death took a big part of his life away from him. His mother, Gertrude, needed to spend time with him, to show him he was loved and someone cared about him. Gertrude was not there for Hamlet the way she should have been, and because of this he began to act like he was crazy. Instead of spending time with her son, Gertrude was busy getting married to the late Kings

Throughout William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Shakespeare portrays Hamlet with the same types of behaviors and frustrations in humans that Sigmund Freud saw at a much later date. When the relationship between Hamlet and his mother is analyzed Freud's oedipal complex theory comes to mind. The oedipal complex is a theory created by Freud that states that "The child takes both of its parents, and more particularly one of them, as the object of its erotic wishes."(51) Because of this desire to be with the parent of the opposite sex, a rivalry is formed with the parent of the same sex. In the play, Hamlet shows great hostility toward his uncle Claudius because his mother's remarriage to him. Hamlet sees his mother's remarriage as disgusting

Moreover, as mother to Hamlet, she acts largely as a reflection of the evils within Claudius. Much of the antagonism Hamlet directs towards her is, thus, aimed clearly at the elements of her that mirror Claudius: her lustfulness and corruption. In return, however, Gertrude offers Hamlet a level of motherly love and understanding. When she says "Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet. / I pray thee, stay with us, go not to Wittenberg," she quite clearly is expressing simple love and a desire to remain close to Hamlet. While Claudius is purely destructive towards Hamlet, Gertrude's ability to filter her lustfulness and corruption through her womanhood allows her to act, at least on some level, as a positive force on Hamlet.

This a brief synopsis of the play; Hamlet is the son of King Hamlet who died before the play begins. King Hamlets brother, Claudius takes the throne and marries his wife. The story largely tracks the revenge sought by Hamlet after the murderer who is, by GREAT surprise, King Hamlet's brother, Claudius.

Similarly, Hamlet’s emotions cloud his perception of Gertrude. Although Hamlet knows that Claudius took the “life, crown, [and] queen” from old Hamlet, Hamlet blames Gertrude for giving his opportunity to reign Denmark to Claudius. However, perhaps Gertrude strategically marries Claudius to give Denmark stability. After losing old Hamlet and becoming vulnerable while at war with Norway, Gertrude’s union with Claudius distracts the people of Denmark from disheartening issues within the country. Instead of punishing Hamlet, perhaps Gertrude fulfills her duty as queen by putting the needs of Denmark before the wants of her son.

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.

Despite the fact that Gertrude has very little role and few lines in the play still she is central to the action of the play. Prince Hamlet hatred and disgust for her mother as she marries Claudius, is one of the main important reflections of the play. This is because in times of Shakespeare, marrying husband's brother after husband's death was considered as a sin and act of being disloyal with the husband. Secondly, Prince Hamlet also considered Claudius inferior to his father, the late King Hamlet, in all aspects of life.

     In Hamlet, Gertrude is a woman who means no harm but whose poor judgment contributes greatly to the terrible events that occur. There are only two female characters in the play, and neither one--Gertrude or Ophelia--is assertive. But the decisions Gertrude does make eventually lead to her death and the downfall of others as well.

Queen Gertrude is the mother to Hamlet, widow to the late King, and new wife to King Claudius as shown within the first act of Hamlet. Following her marriage to King Claudius, her relationship with her son Hamlet becomes strained. Queen Gertrude symbolizes much of what is considered to be a negative aspect of womanhood. To Hamlet, Queen Gertrude is a failure of a woman. Through his dialogue, it is presented that Hamlet desires a woman and mother to be concerned for her family and place tradition above all else. When Hamlet’s mother makes a decision outside of that realm and marries King Claudius, Hamlet strives to berate her for her choices. Through

Ultimately, Hamlet does feel Gertrude betrayed both his father and himself. Hamlet's anger is so intense, he wishes to kill Gertrude, but he cannot, for the ghost specifically tells Hamlet not to hurt his mother, "Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive / Against thy mother aught. Leave her to heaven / And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge / To prick and sting her" (Hamlet, I, v, 92-95). He can only attack her with hurtful words that allude to her role as women.

He also thinks it is appalling that she would marry Claudius and stay with him after he had killed the king. Gertrude is torn between being loyal to her husband and to Hamlet. She wants to please both of them even though neither of them can stand one another. Gertrude being a woman in this time period really doesn’t have much of a say-so which makes her easily influenced by the men in her life. When Gertrude and Hamlet’s relationship becomes rocky she does not understand what she had done to make him so upset. When Hamlet finally gains the courage to confront her after the play she states, “O Hamlet, speak no more: Thou turn'st my very eyes into my soul, And there I see such black and grained spots As will not leave their tinct...O speak to me no more; these words like daggars enter my ears; No more, sweet Hamlet!” She truly believed that she did nothing wrong and when Hamlet began to point out all of the shallow things she had done to him and her former husband she couldn’t handle it. Even though Hamlet acts out so harshly towards his mother she still protects and defends him because of her love and devotion towards

It is tempting to condemn Gertrude as evil, but it is probably more sensible to consider her as weak and inconstant. Hamlet's heartfelt line "Frailty, thy name is woman" sums up his view of her actions early in the play. Like many of Shakespeare's women characters, she is "sketched in" rather than drawn in detail. We know that she has a deep affection for her son, which is commented on by Claudius in Act 4 "The Queen, his mother, lives almost by his looks." and we may assume that she has not gone to Claudius's bed unwillingly, although there is a lack of evidence that she returns the King's obsession with her.