Hamlet and Gertrude: Love or Hate
Imagine it, while away at college you receive word that your beloved father
who had seemed in good health only a short while ago has died leaving your
mother and yourself. This situation would be enough to bring great depression to
even the strongest of souls but for Hamlet, the fictional prince of Denmark in
Shakespeare's play of the same name, this is not his imagination but cruel
reality. Not only has his father passed but, as if to mock the very memory of
the former king, Gertrude, Hamlet's mother and queen, has married again within
two months. This shock is further compounded by the fact the her new husband is
none other than her former brother-in-law, Claudius.
Unable to return to the university due to his over whelming despair,
Hamlet is trapped by his loving parents and not allowed to leave Denmark until
certified well. It is at this time he receives word from his friend Horatio that
the spirit of his father has returned and walks the night. During the
Elizabethan period of English literature, man and nature were thought to be
linked as part of a "great chain of being". To Hamlet, the fact that his father
had returned showed that this chain had been disrupted by some evil in the world
of man. That he had returned as a ghost could mean only one thing, his death was
not an accident. The ghost beseeches Hamlet to avenge him but warns him, "taint
not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive against thy mother aught . . . leave her
to heaven".
This statement by the ghost was left open enough for Hamlet to develop
many questions about his mother's actual involvement in his father's death. At
first, Hamlet's rage is confined to his uncle Claudius but quickly and violently
shifts towards his mother, dwelling upon the horrible thought that she might
have been involved. "Oh most pernicious women!" He screams, "O villain, villain,
smiling, damned villain!" Hamlet speaks as though he has temporarily forgotten
his promise to his father and has become insane with anger. The insanity through
anger is a reoccurring motif throughout the play. After Hamlet has simmered down
to the point where he is again lucid, he vows to his friend Horatio that he will
take revenge upon Claudius, and he will do so by acting insane until the time is
right.
It's clear by what the ghost has said that Claudius is guilty of murder,
but what about Gertrude? She clearly disgusts Hamlet due to her hasty marriage.
Lewis Milestone’s “All’s Quiet on the Western Front”, based on Erich Remarque’s novel, is an incredibly disturbing and effective anti-war film. The grainy black and white film is still not outdated and carries a breathtaking initial impact. The prologue that introduces the film gives its anti-war intentions immediately and beautifully.
All Quiet on the Western Front is a book written by Erich Maria Remarque. It was a book written to reflect the human cost of war. It shows us how war has a hidden face that most people do not see until it is too late. In the novel, he describes a group of young men who at first think war is glorious. But as the war drags on, the group discovers how war is not all it is set out to be. As the war went on, they saw their friends either die or be permanently wounded. Then the end comes when there was only one person left.
to carry out the command of The Ghost at the time when it become right.
His election had sealed Horatio for himself because in suffering all, Horatio suffered nothing; and it is the man who is not passion’s slave whom he would wear in his heart’s core. How clear he would be, Horatio! And yet, in the face of what has happened, ought he to be like Horatio? or ought he not to take up arms against his troubles, and violently end them, and perhaps thereby himself? (45)
The greatest war novel of all time, All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, is a novel that depicted the hardships of a group of teenagers who enlisted in the German Army during World War 1. Enlisting right out of high school forced the teens to experience things they had never thought of. From the life of a soilder on the front line to troubles with home life, war had managed to once again destroy a group of teenagers.
In All Quiet on the Western Front, is a novel that shows all of the horrible things and situations that occurred in WWI. It also talks about “the lost generation” that in fact WWI produced. The main character Paul Baumer and his fellow friends, had spent times listening to their teacher Kantorek's speeches. He talked about how it was the boys' “duty or job” to go out and b patriotic and help fight in the war. All in All the decisions that they had made at this time, still had them pondering on the outcomes their lives would have.
The book reintroduces Hester Prynne in society after her time in prison. Consequently, she remains isolated from the entire community due to her promiscuous actions. When she walks onto the scaffold, many of the town’s elite crowd around to witness Hester’s “agony from every footstep of those that thronged to see her” (Hawthorne 49). The townspeople line up to protest against Hester’s release because it appears as an outrage and quite uncommon for such behavior. She lives far out “on the outskirts of town”, assuring the people that “its comparative remoteness put it out of the sphere of that social activity which already marks the habits of the emigrants” (Hawthorne 76). Wherever Hester goes, the community looks down upon her because of what she stands for through the eyes of her entire town. Within Hester’s “intercourse with society”- the little that she has- “there was nothing that made her feel as if she belonged to it” (Hawthorne 79). In other words, Hester’s attempt to find herself in others ends up disastrous and she can’t help but feel so alone. The presence of Hester makes “those whom she came in...
passed away” holds a significantly sombre and melancholy tone. This is juxtaposed to the living
Hamlet’s relationship with his mother Gertrude is one of mostly rage, hatred, and possibly jealousy that could have been from loving her in a romantic sense. Hamlet finds out that Gertrude marries his father’s brother soon after his father’s death and goes in a fury. He yells at her and he calls her an incestuous beast. Whether or not this is from hatred for Claudius, Gertrude, or even out of jealousy are all cases that can be very well argued. The fluctuating emotions that Hamlet shows throughout is what makes the play so easy to relate to as a human and also what makes the possibility of there being multiple interpretations on how he really feels. Gertrude is also a strange character in that it seems as
Horatio. Horatio is a good friend, as stated in Act 1, Sc 2, L163, and the
but he did not, he always seemed to find some excuse not to do it. I wonder if he killed Claudius the first chance he
Hamlet by William Shakespeare focuses on the title character plotting vengeance against Claudius for his father's murder to capture the Danish crown. The new king is also Hamlet's uncle and now stepdad due to the marriage with his mother, Gertrude. Through a sequence of events, the protagonist eventually avenges his father, although both his mother and himself fall to a tragic fate as well. Throughout the course of the play, the relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude changes from strained to a disrespectful and mistrustful to a bittersweet ending.
to predict how they will treat other women in their life. Hamlet is a good
Horatio’s minor role is vital to the story of Hamlet. He does not add anything to the plot of the play and instead acts as the voice of common sense. Horatio is an outside observer to the madness that ensues after the murder of King Hamlet. All of Hamlet’s soliloquies revolve around irrational speculations about death and decay. However, Hamlet’s conversation with Horatio ground the play in reality. In those conversations, Hamlet reveals his feelings to his closest friend. Horatio is the only one Hamlet can come talk to about what is going on in his life.
The path one takes to seek a personal reward may result in the treacherous acts that causes devastation for others. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the moral corruption that occurs between family members causes animosity that results in their downfall, and eventually their ultimate demise. More specifically, the tainted view of an individual in a family may result in the downfall of the other family members involved. Evidence of the tainted view of a family member causing undue harm can be found in the relationship between Hamlet and Claudius, Hamlet and Old King Hamlet, and Hamlet and Gertrude