Mid Term Assessment: Hamlet

There was an unbreakable bond between mother and son that was completely destroyed when a mother married her husband’s brother. Gertrude and Hamlet are not as close as it seems. Hamlet’s feelings had changed towards his mother after she betrayed his father. Hamlet shows his true colors for his mother when he says,

The relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude is strained at first. From the beginning of the play to act III, Hamlet is bitter with his mother. He feels this way because it has been less than

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

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:

The queen obviously considers her son’s dejection to result from his father’s demise. Angela Pitt considers Gertrude “a kindly, slow-witted, rather self-indulgent woman. . . .” (47). She joins in with the king in requesting Hamlet’s stay in Elsinore rather than returning to Wittenberg to study. Respectfully the son replies, “I shall in all my best obey you, madam.” So at the outset the audience notes a decidedly good relationship between Gertrude and those about her in the drama, even though Hamlet’s “suit of mourning has been a visible and public protest against the royal marriage, a protest in which he is completely alone, and in which he has hurt his mother” (Burton “Hamlet”). Hamlet’s first soliloquy expresses his anger at the quickness of his mother’s marriage to Claudius, an “o’erhasty marriage” (Gordon 128), and its incestuousness since it is between family: “Frailty, thy name is woman! . . . .” Rebecca Smith interprets his anti-motherly feelings: “Hamlet’s violent emotions toward his mother are obvious from his first soliloquy, in which 23 of the 31 lines express his anger and disgust at what he perceives to be Gertrude’s weakness, insensitivity, and, most important, bestiality” (80).

Hamlet essentially feels betrayed because his mother is now with a subordinate man. Hamlet not only thinks she married someone of lesser worth, but he thinks she herself is of lesser worth now too because, according to Hamlet’s mentality, since she is no longer with a virtuous husband, she too is no longer virtuous. Hamlet doesn’t understand how Gertrude could ruin the consecrated bond she shared with the late king; he rhetorically asks her who could have possibly tricked her. Hamlet would have never thought that Gertrude would consider marrying Claudius because her late husband was, according to him, much better in many aspects. Hamlet questions his mother and the decision she makes because he can’t accept or even comprehend that his mother

Hamlet’s first soliloquy comes in act one scene two, as Hamlet reflects on the current state of events. The chief focus of this soliloquy is essentially the rottenness of the king, queen and the world in general. In this passage the reader is introduced to Hamlet pseudo-obsession with death and suicide, which later will become a chief point of indecision. In this particular speech, however, Hamlet is fairly confident. He wishes that his “too too sullied flesh would melt”

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.

Shakespeare applies the characterization of Queen Gertrude to display Hamlet's hatred towards his mother. Hamlet adored his father and was dissatisfied that his mother did not mourn over her husband long enough, leading, to the rash decision of her marriage with Claudius. Hamlet felt that his mother was such a cold women that even, "...a beast wants discourse of reason"(1.2.150), in mourning over its children than his mother did over her husband. Hamlet also commented she, "Had left flushing in her galléd eyes..."(1.2.155) and then immediately married, which gave Hamlet the impression that she did not have a care for his father who was most gracious to her that he would not allow the winds too, "visit her face too roughly"(1.2.142). Hamlet

In her first lines she says, “Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off,/And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark./...Thou know’st ‘tis common; all that lives must die,/ Passing through nature to eternity.” (Shakespeare, I.ii.70-75) Here Gertrude is concerned for Hamlet’s emotional state and tries to comfort him and bring him out of his two month mourning. Gertrude even asks that Hamlet stay with her in Denmark and not return to Wittenberg. “Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet./ I pray thee stay with us, go not to Wittenberg.” (Shakespeare, I.ii.121-122) While some might speculate that her reasoning is to conspire with Claudius, her true nature is to have Hamlet close to her so she can comfort him during this hard time (Unknown, unknown). One could even argue “Instead of marrying Claudius because of her lack of self-control, I would argue that Gertrude is in fact protecting her son by marrying the man who killed her husband, the King of Denmark.” (Graf, 2013) Gertrude once again shows her concern for Hamlet’s sadness by hoping Ophelia could return him to his wonted way again. She even goes as far as to invite his old friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to the castle. This acts shows the reader that Gertrude is trying to cheer Hamlet up and solace him. At the play we see Gertrude reachout once again to Hamlet, asking that he sit beside her, to which he rejects. In the closet scene she acknowledges her

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.

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.