So is the Ghost a figure of Hamlet’s madness, or a sign of his innocence? Although the phrase mainly refers to Hamlet’s perpetually downcast eyes, the use of the word “vailèd” references the black veil that a woman would wear over her face while in mourning. She is the queen of Denmark and is married to Claudius. Did she love her husband? The play seems to raise more questions about Gertrude than it answers, including: Was she involved with Claudius before the death of her husband? And Claudius has indeed, according to the Ghost, contaminated his precious Gertrude, but this does not mean that Claudius did so before Hamlet's father died. Claudius would believe her to be an accomplice and confide in her, but he does not. At the scene's end, as if in a test of his mother's devotion, Hamlet tells Gertrude that Claudius is sending him to England and that he suspects foul play in his uncle's having hired Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to take him there. Find out more about how we use your information in our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. Shakespeare presents Hamlet’s and Gertrude’s relationship as a crucial factor for the plot of the play. Flashcards. In fact, he might even be more disturbed by Gertrude's sexuality than the news of his father's murder. Her remarriage also causes Hamlet to sink into melancholy as Bradley states it provided a ‘violent shock to his moral being’. CLAUDIUS and GERTRUDE relationship in Hamlet essay: A marriage of mutual self-interest. He hopes Claudius’s and Gertrude’s reactions to the play will reveal whether they conspired to assassinate the former king. Gertrude wanted to remain as queen. On the other hand, this scene occurs immediately after the scene in which Hamlet hears Claudius confess to murdering the king. Not “kill a king, and marry with his wife” which is what Claudius did. Early on in the play, we learn that Gertrude's "o'erhasty" and incestuous marriage to Claudius has shaken up Hamlet's world, leaving him with a sense that the world is contaminated, like an "unweeded garden" that's "rank and gross in nature" (1.2.139; 140). PLAY. who is polonius. In my opinion Gertrude married Claudius because she needed the stability of another man like King Hamlet in her life, and the closest man she could find was Claudius. Gertrude’s remarriage… If Gertrude were an adulteress, she would have been almost certainly been involved in Claudius' plot of murder, and therefore she would be the play's villainess and not its child-like victim. Test. I also think she married Claudius because she felt the pressure to marry him or she'll might fall in danger. See if you can complete the grid to finish four points that could answer this question. Nor does she plead for herself or try to make Hamlet see why she chose to marry Claudius. There is evidence, in Gertrude’s behaviour, and her words, that she did not know that Old Hamlet had been murdered by her new husband, Claudius. Claudius has tasked them, as Hamlet’s childhood friends, with finding out why he is acting so strangely. Hamlet, being still depressed about his father’s death was further upset and felt betrayed by his mother when she quickly married Claudius. If Gertrude were an adulteress, she would have been almost certainly been involved in Claudius' plot of murder, and therefore she would be the play's villainess and not its child-like victim. Yahoo is part of Verizon Media. Claudius wanted to be king. Gertrude and Claudius is a novel by John Updike.It uses the known sources of William Shakespeare's Hamlet to tell a story that draws on a rather straightforward revenge tale in the medieval Denmark depicted by Saxo Grammaticus in his twelfth-century Historiae Danicae, but incorporates extra plot elements added by François de Belleforest in his Histoires tragiques, published in 1576. . Hamlet interrupts the play at this point to ask his question. Gertrude may have married Claudius because she fell for his lust. Even if that meant wrecking her relationship with her son Hamlet. Could we say the same about Claudius? He is upset because she married his late father’s brother Claudius. In short, Gertrude’s lines throw further doubt on Hamlet’s point of view. ZacGladman. It was not right and hard for them to accept the fact. The old King Hamlet was apparently a stern warrior, but Claudius is a corrupt politician whose main weapon is his ability to manipulate others through his skillful use of language. She married so quickly because women is portrayed as the weaker sex in the play. It’s possible that she did not love Hamlet Sr. as much Gertrude marries the brother of Hamlet’s father and this why Hamlet is upset with his mother. It’s apparent that Gertrude has no sense of self without a husband. After Hamlet murders Polonius, the Ghost appears in Gertrude’s chambers. . Instead of marrying Claudius because of her lack of self-control, I would argue that Gertrude is in fact protecting her son from … She married so quickly because women is portrayed as the weaker sex in the play. Did she love Claudius, or did she marry him simply to keep her high station in Denmark? It doesn’t matter if you agree or not, as long as you can back it up! 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