Index IntroductionExamining the Guilt of Queen GertrudeConclusionReferencesIntroductionIn William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Queen Gertrude's culpability for King Hamlet's death has been the subject of much debate. While his guilt or innocence in this matter is questionable, his guilt in many other deaths is also a topic worth investigating. Queen Gertrude is a woman evidently guilty of poor judgment and weak character. His decisions, based largely on desire, lead to his death and also the loss of others. A defense of Gertrude on the issue of King Hamlet's death is only appropriate if she knew that Claudius had poisoned King Hamlet, and nothing in the text indicates that she knew of the murder. Even the ghost of King Hamlet himself did not implicate Gertrude in the murder, but only asked Hamlet to "leave her to heaven and to the pangs of her conscience." Queen Gertrude's lack of action and critical thinking demonstrate her culpability not for King Hamlet's death, but for every subsequent death within the play. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Examining Queen Gertrude's Guilt We first realize in Act 1, Scene 2 that poor judgment is Gertrude's primary character flaw. As the mother of a grieving son, Gertrude should have been more sensitive to Hamlet's feelings. Her hasty marriage to Claudius, her former brother-in-law, left Hamlet humiliated and disgusted by what he perceived as an incestuous act. Gertrude showed a marked lack of sensitivity towards Hamlet's feelings regarding such a marriage. She appears to be defined by her desire for status and affection, tending to use men to satisfy her self-preservation instincts, making her dependent on the men in her life. It shows an inability to think beyond what is normal and expected. Although she loves Hamlet deeply, she is a superficial and weak character who seeks affection and status more urgently than moral rectitude or truth. He never shows the ability to think critically about his situation, but seems to move instinctively towards seemingly safe choices, as when he immediately runs to Claudius after his confrontation with Hamlet in his closet. Gertrude is at her best in social situations as portrayed in Act 1, Scene 2 and Act 5, Scene 2, when her natural grace and charm seem to indicate a rich and well-rounded personality. Sometimes she seems to possess only grace and charm, lacking depth or intellect. According to essayist Angela Pitt, "Although her character is not a prime example of moral strength, she betrays no sense of guilt over her husband's death. She is primarily concerned with his current fortune, and neither dwells on his husband's death. husband nor does she analyze her motives in taking another. Although Gertrude shows a lack of sensitivity towards Hamlet's feelings, her actions lead the audience to believe that she would not have intentionally hurt Hamlet, as she would surely have done by participating in King Hamlet's murder. .. Hamlet, however, is not convinced of his mother's innocence and remains blind to her positive attributes due to jealousy and hatred for Claudius. John Wilder's commentary on Hamlet's relationship with Gertrude sheds light on the bad feelings of Hamlet towards his mother: "Coming so quickly after the death of her first husband, Gertrude's remarriage seems to him [Hamlet] to show a callous indifference towards the memory of her father, and her former expressions of love now appear false and hypocrites. Also, marrying in the middleage a clearly inferior man, has revealed a desire for sexual gratification that her son finds repellent" ("Wilder", 73). Hamlet believes that his mother should pay more attention to him during the mourning period rather than marry so quickly after the death of King Hamlet. During Act 1, Scene 2, he is further hurt by her asking him to move on even emotionally: GERTRUDE. Good Hamlet, throw away your knightly color and let your eye look like a friend on the Denmark, do not forever search for your noble father in the dust with your veiled eyelids, you know it is common, all that lives must die, passing through nature into eternity Gertrude's exhortation to Hamlet reveals his lack of empathy and concern for his son's feelings and his inability to understand why he is angry. Hamlet expresses his indignation at Gertrude's hasty marriage during his first soliloquy: HAMLET Oh, wicked haste, to post so dexterously incestuous papers! , but this is not just any man, you should realize; he is Hamlet's father. At this point, Gertrude has the opportunity to ask Hamlet what he is implying and address the issue, but she is the kind of woman who is dead. he wants everything to be clarified without thinking too deeply. Some might wonder if Gertrude is really hiding something about a murder, but in Act 2, scene 2, there is evidence that Gertrude did not really take part in the plot Hamlet suspects her of being Claudius' accomplice in the murder of his father. It is a shame then that Hamlet does not hear Gertrude's private conversation with Claudius during Act 2, scene 2, in which he gives his theory about Hamlet's anger:GERTRUDE is nothing but his father's death and our hasty marriage . Her comments show that Gertrude is probably not an accomplice, since she makes no reference to any murder plot. Her worst offense seems to be her insensitivity to her son's feelings and her lack of investigation into his true cause of anger and melancholy. Finally, in Act 3, Scene 4, Hamlet forces Gertrude to see what he is accusing her of: murder, incest, and adultery. It reaches his consciousness, as indicated by his words: GERTRUDE. You turn my eyes into my own soul, and there I see spots so black and grainy that they do not leave their tint. She might admit a mistake in a too early marriage to Claudius, but not necessarily something worse. Hamlet really wants to put Gertrude on a moral path when, in Act 3, Scene 4, he says to her: HAMLET. Don't go to my uncle's bed. Assume a virtue if you don't have one. His next question: “What should I do?” it is more rhetorical in nature than a direct address to Hamlet. She is not considering changing her behavior, reflecting only on her conflict between pleasing Hamlet and her husband, an impossible feat at this point in the play. Once again, Gertrude missed an opportunity to assuage some of Hamlet's anger by showing sympathy and concern for his feelings. Gertrude cannot be considered a completely insensitive and unsympathetic mother. She tried to protect Hamlet from Claudius' wrath in Act 4, scene 1. In describing Hamlet's murder of Polonius to Claudius, Gertrude hides Hamlet's indifferent attitude by saying that he cried afterwards. Gertrude's attempt to smooth over a difficult situation may indicate her awareness that Claudius is not all he appears to be, but it does not explain why she could not see any flaw in Claudius until that point. Once again, the answer lies in the fact that Gertrude does not possess the necessary intuition to distinguish between sincerity and deceit in people close to her. It's only at the end, whenGertrude realizes that the cup contains poison, faces the truth, and the audience finally receives the pleasure of her complete understanding. Before this moment, the irony of the scene is that Gertrude actually offers wine to her son to help and encourage him in his challenge against Laertes. At this point, she must finally admit to herself that Claudius is guilty of killing King Hamlet and of trying to kill her son. When she warns Hamlet not to drink the wine, she again shows compassion for her son and her desire to protect him from danger. Why did Gertrude marry so soon after King Hamlet's death? If she was innocent, why didn't her grief for King Hamlet last longer? The answer may lie in his superficiality of character. Marrying Claudius allowed her to maintain her usual place as queen, and with it her social status. Gertrude needed the position and the man to feel complete, so she hastily married after King Hamlet's death. She loved Claudio naively and without asking questions. He followed his lead by spying on Hamlet, even though he probably knew Hamlet better than Claudius. There is some speculation that Gertrude and Claudius had an adulterous relationship before King Hamlet's death, but her lack of suspicion towards Claudius after the king's death only adds to the mystery of their relationship. Harold Bloom offers his opinion on Gertrude and Claudius in his book Hamlet: "Shakespeare does not solve the riddle of how far back the relationship with Claudius goes, but we can assume that Gertrude needed some comfort whenever the warlike King Hamlet was killing the first Fortinbras or beating the Poles with sleds on the ice” (Bloom 58-59). Although we learn that Claudius adored Gertrude, he did not love her enough to resist the attempted murder of her son, whom she adored immensely. Over the course of the play, Gertrude is presented with many opportunities to make connections between Hamlet's behavior and the events around her, but she never realizes the truth until the end. The mousetrap set by the players gave the queen her first major opportunity to draw conclusions about her husband's death. His reaction to the show, however, does not give the audience a sense of guilt on his part. Instead, he reacts not to the player-king's death, but to the player-queen's protest: "The lady protests too much, I think." His comment reveals his belief that a widow would easily want to remarry quickly. Gertrude's reaction also shows that she is unaware of Claudius' guilt. He questions Claudio about his hasty exit at the end of the mousetrap: "How is my lord?" Being an accomplice to King Hamlet's murder, Gertrude would surely have known the reason for her husband's anguish. He does not leave with Claudius to discuss the implications of the play, but retreats to his closet where his crucial confrontation with Hamlet is about to take place. Gertrude is truly ashamed of her behavior after Hamlet turns daggers on her. She begs him not to continue talking to her like this. He says he turned his eyes to his own soul, where it now has stains so deep that they would never be erased from there. But Hamlet isn't done yet. He expresses his apprehension that she will continue to live with her current husband and sleep in his greasy, "honey" bed and make love to him. Gertrude again begs Hamiet not to continue speaking to her so cruelly and says, "These words enter my ears like daggers." Bt Hamlet continues his condemnation of his mother. After the Ghost appears and speaks to Hamlet, Hamlet urges his mother to confess his sins to heaven and repent of what he had done inpast, and also to avoid committing other sins. Gertrude then says: "O Hamlet, you have split my heart in two." But Hamlet still doesn't give in. She mockingly says that she still would not shy away from making love to her bloated husband, that she would allow her husband to "lewdly pinch" her cheek, that her husband would call her his "mouse" and that she would he would allow her to give her "a couple of lewd kisses". Thus, during this interview, Hamlet exposes his mother's fragility with frank and offensive language. This confrontation marks a change in Gertrude's attitude. As Polonius falls to the ground, murdered by Hamlet, the queen cries, "Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is this!" To this, Hamlet's response is: "A bloody deed - almost as bad, good mother, as to kill a king, to marry his brother." Gertrude is taken aback by the accusation: "How to kill a king?" Gertrude seems truly astonished by Hamlet's statement but goes on to say, "O Hamlet, speak no more, turn my eyes into my very soul, and there I see spots so black and grainy that they leave not their tint." Is his comment an admission of guilt or evidence of his awareness that Claudio might be a murderer? In Act 4, Scene 5, Gertrude declares her guilt for Polonius' death, since she knew he was hiding behind the tapestry and did not alert Hamlet to his presence. She fears disaster at every turn and feels her guilt spilling over at will from her previous joviality According to Hamlet's revelation, she is fearful and suspicious while she was once happy and lovable. Conclusion Although Gertrude's character does not reveal evidence of murder, she is likely guilty of selfish ignorance, ignoring the evidence, and not thinking critically about the events around her. Her action and judgment demonstrate that she is guilty of Laertes' eventual death. , Hamlet and herself, and perhaps the death of Polonius and Ophelia. One of her biggest and first mistakes was to marry Claudius without taking Hamlet's feelings into account. She mistakenly thought she could separate from her father and not have any negative consequences on her relationship with her son. Another serious consequence that could have been avoided through thoughtful action is the deaths of Polonius, Laertes, and Ophelia. Perceiving Hamlet's melancholy as a product of his grief, he could have warned Polonius and Laertes of Hamlet's true nature and spared their lives, thus also saving Ophelia from her madness and death. Even after Hamlet's accusation in her closet, Gertrude still does not see the truth about Claudius until the moment of his death. Throughout the play, she seems more concerned with being caught between the two men in her life than with the possibility that she has done something immoral. Her goal is to make everyone happy, including herself. Even though her lack of action and intellect caused many of the problems in the first place, she refuses to sacrifice her own happiness for Hamlet, at great cost to many. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Ultimately, the queen is guilty of not seeing what was happening to Hamlet and doing something to stop it. He should have spoken openly with Hamlet about his feelings towards his marriage, King Hamlet's death, and the reasons for his erratic behavior. The mousetrap was supposed to connect the dots in her mind, but she was used to following her "man" easily and without causing any trouble. Angela Pitt sums up Gertrude's character and her true guilt: "When she has drunk from the poisoned cup, almost her last words are, 'O my dear Hamlet!' Simple affection is very touching,/632/)