Hamlet

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Recommended: Relationship between hamlet and Gertrude

In Act 3, scene 4 lines 52 through 93, Hamlet confronts his mother, Gertrude and explains his suspicions about his uncle, Claudius, being a poison that infected and ruined his mother’s soul. The passage gives readers a deep insight into both Hamlet and Gertrude Hamlet’s true feelings for his mother are exposed in a verbal attack as he explains Claudius is an unworthy man who seduced his mother and murdered his father. The conversation is important to the storyline of Hamlet because Gertrude’s character becomes more defined through her interactions with her son and greatly impacts how the tragedy plays out as she refuses to believe Hamlet when he explains Claudius is a villian.
Hamlet feels very angry and feels his mother has abandoned and betrayed King Hamlet and himself. His ideas about her being a good pure Queen are proved false as she turns her back on her husband and marries his brother. This bothers Hamlet before he discovers his father was murdered. “Thou turn’st mine eyes into my very soul, And there I see such black and grained spots, As will not leave their tinct” (79-81) Gertrude admits that incest with her husband’s brother has blackened her soul and will forever haunt her existence. Her son’s words have struck her and she realizes what a horrible sin she has committed. However, it seems she says this to appease Hamlet as though her future actions do not show that she is remorseful.
Hamlet is angry with his mother before he encounters the ghost and discover that Claudius poisoned his brother, King Hamleet. Once Hamlet is aware of foul play, Claudius and Gertrude seem like parasites compared to his God of a father. He is not certain whether his mother played a part of her new husband’s plot. The purpose of the confron...

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...eems unable to think for herself. She is closed minded to the fact that her new husband murdered her former husband. Despite her blindness, she loves her son and wants to protect him as well. By not listening to Hamlet, she herself is poisoned by Claudius on accident.
In the end, Ophelia, Claudius, King Hamlet, Laertes, Polonius, Gertrude, and Hamlet all end up dead. Their deaths result from Claudius’ desire for power and wealth and Hamlet’s desire for revenge. The conversation between Hamlet and Gertrude, in which he warns her against his uncle, plays a huge role in affecting the story. By ignoring Hamlet’s wishes and understanding what he was trying to tell her, the two men destroy their family.

Works Cited

Greenblatt, Stephen , Walter Cohen, Jean Howard, and Katharine Maus. The Norton Shakespeare, Based on the Oxford Edition. W.W. Norton and Company, print.

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