Essay on Hamlet

This essay explores the character of Gertrude in Shakespeare's play Hamlet, focusing on her incestuous love for Claudius and her genuine love for Hamlet. It discusses the societal framework of Denmark in the 16th century, the central role of Gertrude in the plot, and the impact of her actions on Hamlet's desire for revenge. The essay also analyzes Gertrude's character traits, including her passivity, intelligence, and compliance to societal expectations.

Running head: ESSAY ON HAMLET
Essay on Hamlet
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1Essay on Hamlet
Outline of the Essay:
“Hamlet” is one of the most debatable play of Shakespeare and perhaps the most widely
performed one in his repertoire. The actual plot of “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark”
or “Hamlet” was taken from Holinshed’s Chronicles and is one of the longest plays of
Shakespeare. The concerned play highlights the downfall of the mighty Denmark Kingdom and
because of this is often considered to be one of the most important Elizabethan Age tragedies.
The play in a succinct manner depicts the 16th century societal framework of Denmark and the
resultant effect of this is that, the male characters have been given the pivotal positions with the
female characters relegated to the background of the plot. However, the characters of Gertrude,
Hamlet’s mother, and the character of Ophelia, Hamlet’s beloved, are two strong female
characters of the play. Therefore, in the following essay, the character of Gertrude, will be
discussed focusing on her incestuous love for Claudius and her genuine mother’s love for
Hamlet.
First Argument: Gertrude is seen to be married to her brother-in-law, with whom she had been
involved in an incestuous relationship, within two months of the death of her husband. This
particular situation has dictated the entire play.
 Gertrude has been seen to be sharing an incestuous relationship with Claudius, her
brother-in-law, and upon the demise of her husband, she has seen to be materializing
this relationship. Such a conduct, in that particular era was regarded as a social taboo
and a punishable offense. Therefore, such a conduct, being a queen if the country
showed the depth of her love for Claudius.

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 Another important aspect as portrayed in the play is that, even upon gaining the
knowledge that Claudius is the one to kill her husband and even after getting
confronted by her own son,
“O, most wicked speed, to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets!”,
Gertrude never shows any doubt on Claudius, and neither does she try to justify the character
of her love. This shows the unconditional love and blind faith on Claudius.
Second Argument: The character of Gertrude has been portrayed with diverse nature that bores
immense love for her son, who is driven by the thought of revenge due to the conducts of her own
mother.
 The character of Gertrude shows extreme care when it comes to her son, Hamlet. In one
of the act, she shows immense misery and melancholy on gaining the knowledge of her
son, going back to Wittenberg. She is seen to be telling her son,
“Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet; I pray thee stay with us; go not to Wittenberg”
 Moreover in the play, it is seen that the character of Gertrude has remained very passive,
but when she is confronted by her son, she has shown objectivity. This portrays the fact
that the character of Gertrude has shown her true self to her son only (Charney).
Third Argument: The incestuous love of Gertrude for Claudius and her genuine love for
Hamlet form the central lacuna of the plot and greatly dictates the events in the play. For
example, one of the major factors which fuels Hamlet’s desire for revenge is the fact that his
own mother is in an incestuous relationship with the man who killed his father.

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 The incestuous relationship of Gertrude with her brother-in-law, formed the central
plot or theme of the play. The death of the King of Denmark, had left Hamlet
fatherless and as he had gained knowledge of the reason for his father’s death had
driven him to take revenge. The major theme of the play is not the action of revenge
on the part of Hamlet, but rather it was the incestuous relation of Gertrude that had
caused the whole act of revenge.
 As the play has progressed, it is seen that the character of Gertrude has become
dilemmatic. On one hand bores immense love for her own son, and on the other hand,
she yields to the love and wants of Claudius. She cannot deny the love for either one
which has eventually, led the whole play. She can be portrayed as to be a narcissist
character who cannot think anything other than her personal gain and personal
pleasure, which further has dictated the play.
Character analysis of Gertrude:
To start with the character of Gertrude, she can be explained as a widow who has recently
lost her husband, she is the mother of Hamlet, whom she loves dearly, she is a shallow woman,
who has married her own brother-in-law, the next king of the throne. She is again the new Queen
of Denmark. People can perceive her as a woman who holds dearly, the status and male affection
more than everything and that she lacks a moral rectitude or truth. The play opens to the scene of
the death of King Hamlet and the marriage of his widowed wife to his brother Claudius. These
two events have contributed to the impetus of revenge that took place in the story. The act 1 of
the play depicts that these two events were the prime reasons for the frustration and disgust of
Hamlet. However, the way Shakespeare has presented his female characters in his play, there
were very little or no place for Gertrude to express her feelings and her inner thoughts (Nalisnick

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& Baird). Therefore, it becomes very difficult for the readers to understand the character of
Gertrude, as the portrayal of her character and her intentions is very ambiguous.
The characterization, as the reader can get of Gertrude, is from the explanation and
opinions of the ghost and Hamlet, and both of them have viewed Gertrude to be a very shallow
and sensual woman. Hamlet has been often seen to be referring to and talk about the sexual
relationship between Gertrude and his uncle Claudius. Hamlet is often seen to be referring to
their marital bed as covered by an ‘incestuous sheet’ which is ‘stewed in corruption’. The ghost
is also seen to have regarded of her as,
“So lust, though to a radiant angel linked,
Will sate itself in a celestial bed
And prey on garbage.”
Therefore, the illustrations, made by the ghost and Hamlet, has provided the readers a
concept of the character of Gertrude, which is essentially sensuous and lustful. The illustration
made by Hamlet and the ghost, of Gertrude, is of one tainted self- indulgent woman. As
according to the ghost, it is her lustful, voracious nature, which has caused the marriage between
her and Claudius, brother of her deceased husband, to take place. Further, as the dramatist does
not make the character of Gertrude, as a person who voices her opinions and perceptions, the
character of Gertrude has not seen to be open about her perceptions and opinions on the
comments of Hamlet (King). Thus, the readers are neither confirmed nor denied of the
perceptions made by Hamlet. However, in few places, the way the character of Gertrude, has
presented herself, poses a different notion and impression upon the readers.

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The character and role of Gertrude, as portrayed by the dramatist, is extremely passive,
but the short speeches that she makes, has been seen to be direct and quite insightful, as
according to the critics. Most of the opinions or dialogues that have been made by the character
is written as a reflection of her on the opinions and speeches of her male counterparts. The critics
have viewed the character to be very strong and insightful and filled with wisdom (Kinney). As it
is found that the speeches made by the character Gertrude, has often upholds her ability to
foresee future. She has often seen to be correctly identified the situations that are to be
approaching, the themes of a situation, and the implications and the impacts one situation can
make in the future.
In act 2, the woman is seen to be correctly apprehending the fact that more than the death
of his father, the fact that has disturbed Hamlet more, is the fact of the merging of her and her
newly wedded husband, Claudius. This reflects her understanding and the objectivity, as the
character has further not mentioned anything regarding that, not any complaint or suggestion
regarding the same to her newly wedded husband, nor any comment or clarification or
justification of her position when she is approached by her son regarding the same. Further, her
conversation with Polonius, shows and uphold her intelligence. As, in one section, the character
is been seen to be asserting in a way, that shows her authority over her and her intelligence to
portray the situation, the way she has (Hodge & McLain). Moreover, the way she used to speak,
and the language that the character is seen to be using, shows that she was a true queen by
nature. Her way of speaking and keeping the matters short, shows that she is not only aware of
her own position, but also, that she is aware of the positions of other people as well. She knows
very well that, who is to be talked in what way and who are to be talked from a distance and who
are to be talked with a compassionate manner. For upon viewing the character of Gertrude, while

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speaking to her son, and to her husband, we find a clear distinction between these two situations.
She is seen to be talking in a lovely manner while speaking to her son, but when she was talking
to her newly wedded husband Claudius, she was however, seen to be talking in a stern manner.
This clearly depicts, that she holds her son more dearly than her newly wedded husband. Further,
another exquisite feature of the character is, her shrewd observation power, and what is more
interesting is that she never reacted upon those observations. Gertrude, has often seen to be
observed a certain situation and is understood to have gained an understanding of the situation,
but her innuendo – free nature, as made by the play writer, has kept her from keeping an opinion
on that or acting as according to her understanding of the situation. However, what is more
interesting, is that, even if she has understood the implications of the situation, or the meaning of
the particular situation, she obeys what she is told. This is the striking feature of the character of
Gertrude. In the first half of the play, the character has seen to be complying with the suggestions
she was given by her counsellors or her husband. She is portrayed as an extremely content
character. Further, her compliance to the situations, can be interpreted in many ways (Spurgeon).
It can be perceived as the feature of the Elizabethan era, where the women were much content
and passive and obedient to the men of the society, following the patriarchal structure of the
society. Again, it can be seen as an exasperation on her part towards the same. Therefore, the
character, as portrayed by the dramatist, is an enigmatic one, and this is the reason, that even
after reading the illustrations as made by her own son Hamlet, the readers are still in love with
character of Gertrude, and this is the reason, why her character struggles to be interpreted as
exactly as portrayed by her son (Graf). However, in the act 3, the readers get to know of the fact
that he newly wedded husband is responsible for the death of her deceased husband, gives her
moral awakening, and the readers also, finally get the idea that she did not take a part in that

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event. The act 3 scene 4 is the most intense and longest scene between her and her son, and is the
only scene where Gertrude is seen to be stating her own position or her perception on the
comment of her son.
Therefore as a concluding point, it can be said the character of Gertrude, has evolved and
grown with time, and through the scenes and acts and pages the character has expanded.
Gertrude is the key character and influencer of the conducts of Hamlet and for the quest of
Hamlet’s revenge, and in the end it is shown that the character had been instrumental and had
played a pivotal role in the actualization of the revenge of Hamlet.
Reference:
Charney, Maurice. Style in Hamlet. Vol. 2381. Princeton University Press, 2015.
Graf, Emily. "Gertrude's Role in Hamlet." (2013).
Hodge, Francis, and Michael McLain. Play directing: Analysis, communication, and style. Focal
Press, 2015.
King, Kelly. "An Analysis of Narrative Identity in Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
Are Dead." (2013).
Kinney, Arthur F. Hamlet: Critical Essays. Routledge, 2013.
Nalisnick, Eric T., and Henry S. Baird. "Character-to-character sentiment analysis in
shakespeare’s plays." Proceedings of the 51st Annual Meeting of the Association for
Computational Linguistics (Volume 2: Short Papers). Vol. 2. 2013.

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Price, Joseph G. Hamlet: critical essays. Routledge, 2014.
Spurgeon, Caroline FE. "From Shakespeare’s Imagery and What It Tells Us." Macbeth.
Routledge, 2015. 155-164.