What Is Gertrude's Role In Hamlet

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, by William Shakespeare is essentially the early version of modern day soap-operas, in the sense that characters form relationships, betray, and kill others so frequently that it can only be categorized as one royal disaster after another. Old Hamlet was murdered by his brother Claudius in an effort to still his kingdom and his wife. Old Hamlet the returns as a ghost to tell Hamlet to avenge his death against Claudius. Prince Hamlet spent the great majority of the play working to confirm Claudius was in fact the murderer and then muster up the courage to kill his father-uncle, Claudius. Throughout most the play the Queen, Gertrude, is portrayed as a woman who is oblivious to the world around her and is scared of what she can not control. Gertrude was not directly involved in the murder of Old Hamlet, and she did not realize what was happening within her kingdom until it was too late. At the beginning of the play when Hamlet is visited by the ghost of his father, Old Hamlet, he is given very specific directions on how to get revenge. Old Hamlet first tells his son how Claudius murdered him when he was sleeping, but then he begins to tell Hamlet what to do about Gertrude. The Ghost tells Hamlet to leave his mother alone and let her go to Heaven on her own time. Old Hamlet is …show more content…
She feels no need to interrogate Claudius because as far as she knew nothing was wrong in her kingdom, except the death of her first husband, Old Hamlet, and the antics of Prince Hamlet. Gertrude had enough on her mind with the death of her husband, her son and heir to the throne going insane, and being faced with having to run an entire kingdom. At the time Gertrude was simply relieved to have someone she knew and trusted, Claudius, to help her run the kingdom in her time of need. Therefore, she had no reason to be suspicious of him since he was always good to