Sexuality In Shakespeare's Hamlet-To Be Or Not To Be

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.

“To be, or not to be, that is the question,” (3.1.64). This famous line in William Shakespeare's Hamlet perfectly encapsulates Hamlet’s internal struggle throughout the play. Hamlet tells the story of the young prince of Denmark and his desire for revenge on the uncle, Claudius, who murdered his father. As is the case in many works of literature, Hamlet changes greatly throughout the play. However, because of his attempts to act insane, it can be difficult to precisely map the changes in Hamlet’s character. By carefully investigating his seven soliloquies, where he is alone and has no need to “put on an antic disposition,” one can understand and interpret how Hamlet’s character develops throughout the play.

The nature of Shakespeare’s plays, with its notable lack of stage directions, gives way to multiple different interpretations of the characters, plot, and even of the purpose of the play itself. The character of Gertrude is no exception. Gertrude’s character and motives, being left ambiguous, have been interpreted in many different ways in various productions of Hamlet. Was she implicit in the death of King Hamlet, or was she merely a clueless bystander? Did she drink the poison as an act of motherly self-sacrifice, or was it an accidental tragedy? Zefferelli’s Hamlet (1990) and Almereyda’s Hamlet (2000) provide two different interpretations on Gertrude’s characterization. In particular, there exist substantial differences in their renditions of Gertrude’s death—while Almereyda portrays her death as a noble suicide, Zefferelli paints her death as a by-product of her unceasing lust for pleasure. Furthermore, in that scene, we also notice a difference in Hamlet’s attitude towards Gertrude. By analyzing these points along with other scenes within the context of the entire film, we manage to develop an understanding of Almereyda’s and Zefferelli’s view on Gertrude and how use that to develop the tragic conclusion of the final scene.

Perhaps the most common feminist struggle, even to-date, is regarding a female’s agency over her own body, and her own time. The two leading female characters in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” Getrude and Ophelia, both exemplify different aspects of this struggle—Gertrude as the married widow, whose dead husband, Ole King Hamlet, seeks to claim her sexuality, and current husband, Claudius, who seeks control over her; with Ophelia as her contrast, in the role of Hamlet’s peculiar love interest. These women work to develop, within Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” the relationship of both Ophelia, as the classic objectified female, to the overarching storyline, and of Claudius and Gertrude as a defining male-female relationship that lends itself to an analysis of gender roles, denial of subjectivity, and woman’s place within the domestic sphere.

Gertrude says “Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off, And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. Do not for ever with thy vailèd lids, Seek for thy noble father in the dust.Thou know 'st 'tis common; all that lives must die,Passing through nature to eternity.”(Shakespeare i.ii.70-75) This quote from the play is a conversation between Gertrude and hamlet where Gertrude is telling hamlet to accept her love and marriage with King Claudius. She also tells him to stop mourning over his dead father, and that death is inevitable and everyone has to die some day. She urges him not to wear black clothing for his father because to her it seems about high time that he got over his loss. While hamlet later on agrees that death is something everyone must go through his mother confronts him about why mourning his father’s death is something so special to him. In the course of Hamlet’s mourning the mother is still accepting over how upset he is and does not once come to conclusions about Hamlet being mentally disturbed. Gertrude’s character is portrayed as one that sways in any direction because of her incestuous act, she comes off to be a weak woman that is in a constant search for affection and

Gertrude puts on an act that she is grieving king hamlet’s death when really she feels no remorse. When her son, Hamlet shows his grief she says, “Good Hamlet cast thy nighted colour off, and let thine eye look like a friend on denmark. do not forever with thy vailèd lids seek for thy noble father in the dust. thou know’st ‘tis common, all that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity” (I. ii. 70). She tells hamlet to stop wearing dark clothes, embrace his new father claudius and to move on from his father’s recent death.

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

Since its origination, William Shakespeare’s Hamlet has been revered for its spectacular analysis of human morale and sanity. However, Shakespeare also explores the theme of marriage, particularly the mildly incestuous remarriage of a widow. Among scholars, one of the greatest literary debates of all time is over Gertrude’s motivations for remarrying her brother-in-law, Claudius. Many argue that Claudius and Gertrude were having an affair before King Hamlet’s murder, while others believe that Claudius merely wooed Gertrude in her time of brief grieving. However, due to the role of women during the time Hamlet was set in, Gertrude’s primary reason for marrying Claudius so hastily was to protect her bloodline and her own royal power.

Not only does Gertrude betray Hamlet by making him further depressed, but she also takes away the possibility of Hamlet becoming King. While she loves Hamlet, she loves her ex-husband’s murderer more. Hamlet wants to become King after his father’s death, but is no longer able to, because Claudius “popped in between the election and my hopes” (5.2.65). Instead of fulfilling her son’s hopes and dreams, she supports Claudius’ desire for the throne by marrying him. Thus, this makes Hamlet develop hatred towards his uncle Claudius and Gertrude, destructing the love between the family.

Through Hamlet’s soliloquies, an audience is exposed to hi belief that Gertrude has betrayed his father. In Elizabethan times, Gertrude’s marriage to Hamlet may have been regarded as incestuous and unlawful. Thus, Hamlet refers to the “sheets” of marriage as “incestuous”. However, Hamlet continual preoccupation with the “speed” in which Gertrude has not undergone a significant period of mourning. Conventionally, a period of mourning of one year would have been expected, whereas Gertrude remarried in two months. Hamlet likens Gertrude’s actions to that of “Niobe” and by drawing such comparisons emphasizes his beliefs in hypocrisy of her actions, thus betraying her deceased husband by marrying her former husband’s brother, she also betrays the late king

When Hamlet died Queen Gertrude was quick to marry his brother, Claudius. Hamlet II was very distraught and was grieving over his lost father, while Gertrude doesn’t seem to deal with the death of her husband. She even says, “Thou know’st ‘tis common- all that lives must die…” (1.2.71). This shows two things

William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is perhaps one of his most intriguing and scandalous pieces of work. One character who is liable for much of this excitement and outrage is Hamlet’s mother, Queen Gertrude. To some readers and critics, Gertrude is conceived as an erratic, superficial and sensual woman. Others discern the Queen as an earnest, intellectual and sagacious woman whose tragic fault is her yearning for sexual satisfaction. Throughout the text, there are several legitimate arguments for both sides, but in the end, Hamlet seems to sum up the Queen’s true persona with the words “Frailty, thy name is woman”. Evidence of Gertrude’s true nature can be found in many instances through out the play such

The purpose of this essay is to analyze the role of Gertrude in "Hamlet", which is counted as one of the famous plays of English language (Thompson and Neil Taylor 74) and the most popular work of Shakespeare (Wells and Stanton 1). This essay will evaluate the role of 'Gertrude', who was the mother of Prince Hamlet and also the title character of the play.

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

“Frailty, thy name is woman” (1.2. 150)! This controversial line, followed by several more from the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, displays a common view towards women that portrays them as being weak and reliant on men. Throughout the play, two women, Ophelia and Gertrude, are shown to be dependent on the men in their lives. They both take on a senselessly obedient state of mind. Even though they share this common characteristic, Ophelia and Gertrude are very different characters. Ophelia is a beautiful, young woman who is the love interest of the protagonist, Hamlet. Ophelia obeys her father, Polonius, without hesitation and has very little experience with making her own decisions. Gertrude was the wife of Old Hamlet, and is now the wife of Claudius, the current king and Old Hamlet’s brother. Gertrude desires affection and status more than she cares about the truth of what happened to her late husband. The men in this play have no sense of how they treat the females. This patriarchal way of life was prominent in the late 16th century and early 17th century which was about the time that Hamlet was written and performed. This relationship between the genders is interconnected within the play and with society during that particular time period. The characters of Ophelia and Gertrude were solid examples of how women were viewed as inferior to men during this time in history.