Gertrude

it would hurt Gertrude. It might seem like Claudius actually cares about her in this scene. He says that, “She [Gertrude] is so conjunctive to my life and soul” (IV, vii, 15). But this care seems far from genuine. Claudius is definitely acting in this scene. He doesn’t genuinely care for Gertrude. The only thing he genuinely cares about is remaining in power. After all, he is only in power because he married Gertrude. Another reason why I believe Claudius’s caring emotions for Gertrude are acted…

In his play, Hamlet, William Shakespeare implies that everybody copes with death differently. First, due to his father’s death, Hamlet wants to take revenge against Claudius, then, Ophelia goes mad because of her father’s death, and finally, Gertrude quickly remarries after her husband’s death. First, Hamlet seeks revenge on Claudius due to his father’s death. In Act I, scene v, lines 98-99, Hamlet States, “Yea, from the table of my memory/ I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records.” In this…

the perfect and pure exemplar of a woman and Gertrude, being the disloyal and negative portrayal of a woman. However, to the male characters in Hamlet the actions of these women do not matter, both women are treated with scorn and mistrust. Shakespeare may have used this display…

Gender inequality is a prevalent matter in Hamlet. In a play with many characters, only two females are named, Hamlet’s mother and his love interest. Both Gertrude and Ophelia are seen as fragile, compliant women that are tools of manipulation used by the dominant men in their lives. During the Shakespearean time, the ideal female was youthful, beautiful, and maintained her purity. Compliant women accepted and fulfilled the requirements and blooms in the environment given to her from her…

Hamlet, the main character is the latter. Hamlet acts as a petulant child and refuses act rationally. Due to his mother’s treachery towards him and his father, Hamlet believes that enemies are disguised as friends and, thus, cannot be trusted. Gertrude betrays Hamlet by marrying his uncle unreasonably soon after his father’s death causing his personality change. Hamlet’s “aunt-mother” (2.2.361-362) acknowledges that her “o’erhasty marriage” (2.2.56-57) to Claudius is the most likely reason for…

William Shakespeare addresses stereotypes of women that occurred in the Renaissance era and continue to occur in modern society. Although Shakespeare supports these stereotypes in many of his literary works, he questions many of these depictions in his plays. Shakespeare’s plays challenge the traditional representations on men and women, what the gender characteristics are, what is identified as being manly or feminine, how both genders can possess both masculine and feminine traits, about the…

betraying our loved ones. Gertrude, Hamlets’ mother affects multiple people around her based on the choices she makes. Her husband passes away and rather than caring for her children and making sure they grow up to be the best that they can be, she focuses on her own life and what she wants in life. "She married, O, most wicked speed, to post with…

were presented to be equal to men and from a series of events, which is the opposite of women’s rights that was presented in the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns. The main character in Hamlet, Gertrude was present to have equal rights to men because her voice was heard and valued like a man’s voice was. Also Gertrude status was equal to her husband’s, they were royal and she was treated as so. The character Ophelia was presented to have equal rights to men because she was not forgotten about and…

In a world controlled by misogynistic men, two women, Gertrude and Ophelia find themselves in a plot written by a man, primarily about men, and their reactions reveal an interesting variety of potential interactions with patriarchy. In Hamlet, the reader encounters two main female characters. Though each try to gain agency, we find that Laertes and Polonius treat Ophelia as an inert instrument for their own ambition. Simultaneously, Hamlet and the Ghost try to manage Gertrude’s behavior by…

he were to directly attack Gertrude about her marriage of Claudius it would make him more of a target. So he attacks Gertrude through the play he has put on for her and Claudius and with Ophelia. When performing the play, the queen in the play says “if, once a widow, ever I be wife” (III.ii.246), telling her husband that she will never remarry after he dies. This is Hamlet using the play to express how he feels a loyal wife should act in this situation and since Gertrude did the opposite, she is…