Act 1 of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet reveals a plethora of flaws within each character, specifically Gertrude. Hamlet has no trouble in pointing out that after the death of Gertrude’s husband, King Hamlet, she wastes no time in remarrying. Hamlet also criticizes Gertrude because she doesn’t just remarry; she marries King Hamlet’s brother, Claudius. Furthermore, Claudius is accused of being an adulterer by the Ghost, “that incestuous, that adulterate beast” (1.5.42). The Ghost’s accusation can suggest that Claudius may have been with Gertrude while King Hamlet was still alive. This begs the question if Gertrude really did love King Hamlet or if she was just another run-of-the-mill gold digger. Gertrude makes her first appearance in Act
Bamber goes into detail in her dissertation Comic Women, Tragic Men, that because of the fact that both King Hamlet’s ghost and Hamlet described Gertrude as being incestuous and seduced by Claudius, and because the ghost mentioned how Claudius would give her gifts while he was still alive, prove her adultery (Bamber, “Comic Women, Tragic Men”).
In Scene 1 Act 2 she says “Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet; I pray thee stay with us; go not to Wittenberg" (1.2,18-19) she’s trying to protect Hamlet but not seeing that she’s actually hurting him. What made Hamlet mad was that she had married her uncle two months after his father’s death. Gertrude causes the main problem in Hamlet’s life and she does it by only thinking of herself.
Hamlet is very secretive about the ghost, until he tries to convince Gertrude he is there, and fails in the process, which only causes her to believe he is more crazy. King Claudius is a character full of corrupt power, lies and mystery. Claudius’ entire life as king spirals from the secret that he killed his brother, married his wife and essentially stole the crown. Carrying around that disastrous secret
I believe that Gertrude is clever. Many people understood the phrase "adulterate beast" and thought of it as proof that Gertrude was Claudius’s lover before Hamlet 's father had died. It will actually make the Queen an abhorrent character in a further level than what Shakespeare had intended, also the rest of the play doesn’t this particular adultery. Claudius according to King Hamlet’s (Ghost) has definitely contaminated his beloved queen, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that Claudius did it before Hamlet 's father has died.
Once Gertrude is dead, Hamlet kills the king. He cuts him with his rapier as well as makes him drink the wine. Gertrude was finally looking out for Hamlet like she should have been doing all along. Gertrude may also have wanted Hamlet
Gertrude, on the other hand, has in reality acted in a sinful or at least disgraceful was. There is legitimate reason to ridicule or resent Gertrude, especially from Hamlet’s position, for it is indisputable that the time between the elder Hamlet’s death and her marriage to Claudius was not appropriate and that she should have mourned longer. Hamlet’s distaste for marriage was birthed from Gertrude’s marriage to his uncle, and he now sees the whole ordeal as something unsavory. Couples appear in love but Hamlet is convinced that they are not, and they will not stay true to one another, since Gertrude was not true to his father. In
Her dilemma of having to choose one man over the other is driving her to insanity because she can’t pick just one of them. Certainly she loves both of them or at least that’s what she thought, but Hamlet’s father is her true love while Claudius is the brother of her husband that just so happened to become king after his brother died. In short, she doesn’t know her true feelings for either person. Gertrude feels confused and overwhelmed by everything that just unfolded in front of her. It causes her an undesirable grief that she shouldn’t have had to deal
Shakespeare encourages the audience to question this male ideal requiring unadulterated masculinity by making Gertrude and Claudius disagree on the merit of Hamlet’s femininity. Gertrude positively describes him, calling him ‘As patient as the female dove,’ while Claudius ‘despises his ‘unmanly grief’’ (Howard, 2007, 18). Hamlet’s femininity is hated by Claudius, a lying murderer, and not by Gertrude, one of the play’s most sympathetic characters (even the ghost of King Hamlet requests that Hamlet have mercy on her: ‘O, step between her and her fighting soul’). The audience is left to wonder if they agree with antagonist Claudius’s traditional views, or the more likeable Gertrude.
The unnatural inauguration of Claudius is proved to be an example of corruption when the ghost says, ‘the fat weed That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf.” (Act 1 Scene 5 lines 33-34) where the ghost compares Claudius to a “fat weed” that will ruin the garden of Denmark. As a result, Claudius’ influences target Gertrude’s virtues, and make her oblivious
Hamlet’s views on women is adulterous which pertains to the misogynistic tendencies in the play; thus, Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, sparks up his misogynistic approaches. Hamlet is repulsed with Gertrude since she was quick to re-wed immediately following Old Hamlet’s death and cries: “She married. O, most wicked speed, to post / With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!” (1.2.156-157). Hamlet is shocked that his mother remarries to Claudius, Old Hamlet’s brother, before letting the tears on her cheek to dry.
Throughout the conversation and various parts of the play, Hamlet expresses his disgust for his mother 's actions. He insults her by comparing his father to Hyperion and Claudius to a satyr. He tells Gertrude not to sin by sleeping with him and tells her she is nothing but lustful for marrying a man like Claudius when he says, “That blurs the grace and blush of modesty,/ Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose/ From the fair forehead of an innocent love/ And sets a blister there, makes marriage vows/
In act one Gertrude marries her dead husband 's brother Claudius, Hamlet is not very happy that his mother did this. Hamlet feels very betrayed by his own mother because she remarried so quickly. He feels as if this is an unforgivable
However, in in act 5, scene 4, Gertrude finally admits that she has wronged her son and her first husband, and in her conversation with Hamlet, she says, “O Hamlet, speak no more. Thou turn’st my very eyes into my soul.
While Hamlet speaks to the King he says, “A little more than kin, and less than kind” (Shakespeare 9). With this statement, Hamlet is withering his relationship with the new King. Due to this incest, there is a lack of respect between Hamlet and Queen Gertrude. In Act 3 Scene 4, Hamlet enters the Queens closet asking what is the matter and the Queen says, “Hamlet, thou hast thy
(dies)”(Hamlet, Act V, Scene 2). Although there's plenty of information pertaining to the fact that Gertrude and Claudius aren't in love, some still believe that they were. People have made arguments stating that Claudius murdered his brother because he was so deeply in love with Gertrude that he didn't want them to be together. This is a good observation, but there is no evidence supporting this. Not once in the story did Claudius tell Gertrude that he loves her, and in his confession to God, he never stated any feelings that he had towards her.