Although Gertrude seems to be a villain, she turns into a victim that leads to her demise. To begin, Gertrude is a victim because she is naive that eventually leads to her death. At the end of the play when Hamlet and Laertes are fencing, Gertrude unknowingly drinks the cup of wine filled with poison.
The Ghost cites Gertrude's voracious lust as the cause of her swift marriage to his brother (the 'garbage' in this metaphor). Gertrude's sexual relationship with Claudius defines her character for both Hamlets, and taints the audience's perception of her as an intemperately lustful and self-indulgent individual.
But other interpretations, in both stage productions and paintings, suggest Gertrude's guilty knowledge of the murder, and Hamlet suspects her as well as Claudius; Hamlet's "mousetrap" therefore sets out to capture the conscience of a king and a queen.
Unlike Hamlet, Gertrude has no soliloquies reflecting on herself and her actions. She's driven by emotions rather than reflection. She's affectionate, impulsive, and strong-willed. Although Gertrude has many good qualities, she's not conspicuously intelligent.
Gertrude never seems to get in the middle of Hamlet and Claudius' disputes, so many tend to assume that she is involved in King Hamlet's murder. However, there is an abundance of in-text evidence that suggests she is very innocent and oblivious to Claudius' plots throughout the play.
Even the ghost of King Hamlet himself did not implicate Gertrude in the murder, but only asked Hamlet to “leave her to heaven and the pangs of her own conscience.” Queen Gertrude's lack of action and critical thinking prove her guilty not of King Hamlet's death, but indirectly guilty of each subsequent death within the ...
In Laurence Olivier's film adaptation of Hamlet, Gertrude drinks knowingly, presumably to save her son from certain death. If she drinks on purpose, then she's the self-sacrificing mother Hamlet has always wanted her to be.
Although Gertrude seems to be a villain, she turns into a victim that leads to her demise. To begin, Gertrude is a victim because she is naive that eventually leads to her death. At the end of the play when Hamlet and Laertes are fencing, Gertrude unknowingly drinks the cup of wine filled with poison.
One of the most important characters in Shakespeare's Hamlet would be the mother of Hamlet himself, Gertrude. Queen Gertrude played a devious and shameful role, which left many questioning her dignity throughout the play.
All scholars seem to agree on one point: Gertrude does not mean harm, but still causes harm to those around her. Orah Rosenblatt in her Gertrude in Hamlet, Critical Analysis Essays, says “Gertrude is a woman who means no harm but whose poor judgment contributes greatly to the terrible events that occur.”
Hamlet delays killing Claudius because Claudius represents Hamlet's innermost desires to sleep with his mother Gertrude.
Gertrude's betrayal of her son was caused by Claudius, as he comforted her after her husband's unfortunate demise, and later married her, this was betrayal to Hamlet because he had a very high opinion of his father and thought very little of his uncle, Hamlet said “-married with my uncle, / My father's brother, but no ...
Hamlet has issues with both Gertrude and Ophelia; thus, he does not treat them kindly. Hamlet disapproves of his mother's marriage to Claudius. Hamlet speaks to himself about Gertrude: “By what it fed on, and yet, within a month - let me not think on't. Frailty, thy name is woman! …
The Gertrude who does emerge clearly in Hamlet is a woman defined by her desire for station and affection, as well as by her tendency to use men to fulfill her instinct for self-preservation—which, of course, makes her extremely dependent upon the men in her life.
Gertrude and Ophelia live in a patriarchal society and are considered to be frail and weak-minded. This enables their being manipulated and exploited. Soon after the death of her husband, Gertrude is seduced into marrying her brother-in-law, Claudius, an act that earns the anger of her son, Hamlet.
Gertrude describes her love for Hamlet when she asks him not to return to Wittenberg. When she shares with Ophelia her hope that the young woman would have married her Hamlet, she divulges her wish for his happiness.
Gertrude betrays Hamlet and the late King Hamlet by marrying Claudius. Hamlet, being still depressed about his father's death was further upset and felt betrayed by his mother when she quickly married Claudius.
Claudius is the primary antagonist in Hamlet. He thwarts Hamlet by killing his father.
However, Shakespeare uses Gertrude's ignorance, symbols, and her actions to portray her as innocent. Gertrude condones spying on Hamlet and marries her husband's murderer, but she has no idea that Claudius killed King Hamlet and agrees that they must watch Hamlet closely because she is worried about him.
Gertrude reveals no guilt in her marriage with Claudius after the recent murder of her husband, and Hamlet begins to show signs of jealousy towards Claudius. According to Hamlet, she scarcely mourned her husband's death before marrying Claudius.
Gertrude's Loyalty to Hamlet
Despite all that happens, Gertrude chooses to remain loyal to Hamlet. At the end of act three, he reveals to Gertrude that he is only mad in craft, not for real, and he askes her not to sleep with Claudius anymore.
In Gertrude's room, Polonius hides behind a tapestry. Hamlet's entrance so alarms Gertrude that she cries out for help.
O my dear Hamlet! The drink, the drink! I am poison'd. [Dies.]
Claudius's love for Gertrude may be sincere, but it also seems likely that he married her as a strategic move, to help him win the throne away from Hamlet after the death of the king.