The Character of Gertrude in Shakespeares Hamlet Essay -- GCSE Course

The Character of Gertrude in Shakespeares Hamlet The Gertrude in Shakespeares tragic drama Hamlet is controversial in the sense that some critics countenance her morality and some deny it. Lets consider this wonder and others related to this character. Gertrude has mevery good qualities in the play she is non cruel through and through. Rebecca Smith in Scheming Adulteress or pleasant pay back presents an image of the queen in Shakespeares Hamlet that is perchance not consistent with that presented by the ghost Although she may reach been partly responsible for Claudius monstrous act of fratricide and although her marriage to Claudius may have been indirectly responsible for making a monster of Hamlet, Gertrude is never seen in the play inducing anyvirtuoso to do anything at all monstrous. . . . When one fast examines Gertrudes actual speech and actions in an attempt to understand the character, one finds little that hints at hypocrisy, suppression, or uncontrolled p assion and their implied complexity. . . . She speaks plainly, directly and virtuously when she does speak. . . .(81-82) Gunnar Bokland in Hamlet describes Gertrudes moral descent during the course of Shakespeares Hamlet With Queen Gertrude and finally also Laertes deeply involved in a situation of increasing ugliness, it becomes clear that, although Claudius and those who associate with him are not the incarnations of evil that Hamlet sees in them, they are corrupt enough from any balanced point of view, a condition that is also intimated by the heavy-headed pledge that distinguishes life at the Danish court. (123) Gertrudes contamination does indeed fall upon the hero. Courtney Lehmann and Lisa S. Starks in Making Mother Matter ... ...//ds.dial.pipex.com/thomas_larque/ham1-col.htm Jorgensen, Paul A. Hamlet. William Shakespeare the Tragedies. Boston Twayne Publ., 1985. N. pag. http//www.freehomepages.com/ crossroads/other/jorg-hamlet.html Lehmann, Courtney and Lisa S. Starks. M aking Mother Matter Repression, Revision, and the Stakes of Reading Psychoanalysis Into Kenneth Branaghs Hamlet. early(a) Modern Literary Studies 6.1 (May, 2000) 2.1-24 <URL http//purl.oclc.org/emls/06-1/lehmhaml.htm>. Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http//www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html No line nos. Smith, Rebecca. Gertrude Scheming Adulteress or Loving Mother? Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. of Hamlet A Users Guide. hot York Limelight Editions, 1996.