In her relationship with
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.
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.
She is often the victim of oppression and surveillance. She cannot be interpreted related with her own utterances. She has been the victim of males' words in the play. Gertrude should not be thought only as a sensual woman without taking into consideration of her sufferings and Hamlet's behaviours.
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.”
It is easy to view Hamlet's mother Gertrude as 'severely flawed' due to the fact that she has married her late husband's brother not two months after his death.
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. By marrying her former husband's brother, she also betrayed the late King Hamlet.
Gertrude is just a mother, trying to protect his son from being hurt. In the final scene of the play, Gertrude drinks the poisoned wine that Claudius has prepared for Hamlet. Even though Claudius tells Gertrude not to drink, Gertrude does it for his son.
In Hamlet's mind, Gertrude cheats on his father and through that “turns all women into prostitutes and all men into potential cuckolds” (Traub 122). Adelman adds that Hamlet is also disgusted by his mother's sexuality because he comes from her body, which means that he is contaminated by it.
Without Gertrude knowing the crime Claudius committed of murdering her late husband, she put all her trust into Claudius's false motive of saving the nation as well as agrees to marry him.
Gertrude cares deeply for her son Hamlet and looks out for what she believes is in his best interest.
He provided a poisoned cup with which Gertrude drank to her death. Claudius manipulated Gertrude to death, and with loving manipulation to her son. Hamlet felt depressed and lonely, at times wanting to give up and not fight the battle.
Her lack of action and judgment prove her culpable for the eventual deaths of Laertes, Hamlet, and herself, and possibly the deaths of Polonius and Ophelia. One of her greatest and earliest mistakes was marrying Claudius without regard to Hamlet's feelings.
She lies but her lies are to protect her love ones; the way she lied to King Claudius telling him that Hamlet is deeply saddened for killing Polonius. She is a sexual woman this is what leads Hamlet to be disgusted with her to begin with. She has an underlying goodness about her and; this leads to her redemption.
Gertrude Lines 68-73 Gertrude tells Hamlet that he should no longer wear black mourning clothes and that he should look happier. She tells him he should not keep his eye downward as if he were looking for his father in the dirt. She reminds him that all people must die.
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.
Ambition and desire are Little Wan's weapons against Wu Luan's loneliness and Qing's pathetic devotion and are the characteristics that define her as the film's true tragic hero.
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.
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.
There is an implied incestuous relationship between Hamlet and his mother in this film's interpretation of the play. They kiss in such a way that implies more than filial love and he even briefly mimes sexual intercourse at one point.
The Ghost all but accuses her of adultery and incest when he calls her new husband, Claudius, "that incestuous, that adulterate beast" (1.5. 49).
Gertrude is often misinterpreted as a shallow and self-centered character. However, a closer look defines her otherwise. Gertrude was one who had overpowering animal instincts, in love with the baser needs of human flesh.
Surprisingly, Hamlet gazes at her breasts, and she expresses her joy at his acceptance with a prolonged kiss, which she does not end until Claudius has intervened. A similar kiss scene occurs at the end of the closet scene when Hamlet and Gertrude again express their mutual attachment in the same way.
And two, he's already in a relationship with Ophelia and despite him being an a-hole sometimes, the two are still in love with eachother. Furthermore, Horatio is gay and in love with Hamlet but can't pursue any relationship with him, due to the reasons above.
Hamlet is cruel to Ophelia because he has transferred his anger at Gertrude's marriage to Claudius onto Ophelia. In fact, Hamlet's words suggest that he transfers his rage and disgust for his mother onto all women.