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Characterization of Gertrude and Ophelia in Hamlet
Gertrude and hamlet's oedipal relationship
Characterization of Gertrude and Ophelia in Hamlet
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In the play, “Hamlet” Shakespeare utilizes Gertrude’s description of Ophelia’s death, Ophelia’s singing the song after her father's death, Gertrude finding out that Polonius has forbidden Ophelia to contact with Hamlet, Gertrude sending Hamlet away from Denmark and protecting Hamlet after he had killed Polonius, illustrates that Gertrude killed Ophelia to hide the truth from spreading around and was responsible for the death of Ophelia in order to protect her son.
As Gertrude reports about Ophelia’s death to Laertes, she says in a way making it sound like she was right next to her. If she never wanted to kill Ophelia than she would have saved her but instead Gertrude let her die in front of her. Gertrude intention was to kill her and not
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As she sings around, she says “there’s fennel for you” to Gertrude (Act 4, Scene 5 & line 204). Fennel usually represents adultery and flattery. As she sings this, Gertrude realizes that Ophelia know something about the relationship that Claudius and Gertrude had. In the beginning of the play the ghost (aka her 1st husband) reveals that the Queen has been disloyal to him by committing adultery. Ophelia turns to Claudius and hands him the flower saying, “there’s rue for you” (Act 4, Scene 5 & line 205). Additional to this it could represents Claudius's love flattery and committed adultery with Gertrude, even though the Queen love her husband. After hearing this shocking event, Claudius tells Horatio to keep an eye on Ophelia. After Horatio leaves, Gertrude follows behind but never comes back. This leaves a suspicious environment causing the readers to receive a clue that she might have killed Ophelia right after Ophelia confronted the King and Queen about their sin that they have done. Gertrude didn’t want this news to go out of the Kingdom and destroy her reputation as a Queen. The Queen needs her throne and to keep that she had to get rid of
Throughout the play Hamlet, Ophelia is associated with floral imagery. Her father, Polonius presents her with a violet, she sings songs about flowers when she turns mad, she drowns amid garlands of flowers, and finally, at her burial, Queen Gertrude tosses flowers into her grave. Flowers symbolize her fragile beauty, blossoming sexuality, and a condemned innocence. Flowers are not deeply rooted. They are beautiful living things at the mercy of their surroundings. With no means of self-preservation, a flower's life relies on the natural forces around it. Ophelia's life mirrors this frail existence. She is entirely dependent upon the men in her life to make her choices. With no control over the storm brewing in her own life and no strength to withstand it, her shallow roots are ripped from under her. She loses her mind and takes her own young life.
This can be proven by the change in Ophelia’s actions and behavior. Ophelia starts to sing strange songs in front of Gertrude about her father’s death and Hamlet’s madness. Ophelia sings to Gertrude and sings, “He is dead and gone, lady, he is dead and gone, at his head a grass-green turf, at his heels a stone” (4.5.26-29).This tells us that Ophelia is a very soft and is a very weak character and can easily get heart broken. She cares about her family and the death of her father has shattered her into pieces, it may cause problems for her to
Queen Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, is in some ways the epicentre around which Hamlet's emotions revolve. Her role is difficult to determine; she can be seen, like Desdemona, as the passive victim of male ambition and strife, or she can be placed amongst the likes of Lady Macbeth as privy to her husband's misdeeds, and as sharing his guilt to an equal, if not greater extent. Her attitude to Ophelia seems positive ('Scattering flowers. Sweets to the sweet. Farewell. I hop'd thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife'; V.1.236). Her most vital scene is III.4, in which Hamlet attempts to extract a confession from her, and to persuade her to renounce Claudius. Modern productions regularly home in on the Freudian potential by locating this key encounter between mother and son in the former's bedroom. It takes place in her closet.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet, shows strong prejudice against woman especially with such characters of Ophelia and Gertrude. Shakespeare created an interesting character with Gertrude; he created a character that sits in the middle of all the conflict and appears to not partake in much of it. However Gertrude does seem intent in defusing it at every possible chance she receives. Gertrude is a central figure in the play. She appears a great deal but doesn’t say much – implying mystery and creating an interesting uncertainty in the audience. Hamlet spends a lot of time dwelling on her marriage to Claudius and Shakespeare leaves many questions unanswered with Gertrude such as did she have an affair with Claudius behind old hamlets back? Why does she drink the poisoned wine that is intended for her son? Does she know it is poisoned? Gertrude is the mother of Hamlet and although they do not have a typical mother son relationship she does love him. Queen Gertrude is often interpreted by many as an adulterate, incestuous woman. Catherine Belsey states that typical interpretations of Hamlet maintain: ‘Gertrude a slut; and Shakespeare a patriarchal bard’ (Belsey,1997:34). Gertrude’s actions throughout the play could be read to show her to be a very passive character, far from a strong independent woman. This is shown with her obedience to Claudius, three times during the play, Gertrude is told to leave and each times she complies without hesitation. In Act 1, scene 2 Claudius says to Gertrude, ‘Madam, come’ (122). Then again, Act 3, scene 1, Claudius says to her, ‘Sweet Gertrude, leave us .’ (28), she complies with ; ‘I shall obey you’ (37). And finally, in Act 4, scene 1, Claudius say, ‘O Gertrude, come away!’ (28). This obedience that Gertrude ...
“Ophelia reveals a deeper understanding of world issues than an aristocratic virgin should ever admit, rejecting the [essential] female codes her father dictated to her and blurring the demarcations between innocence and subversion” (Maki 7). “Gertrude’s witnessing of Ophelia’s death may show that she understands what Ophelia has gone through and knows the realities of their patriarchal society… she knows that there is no other escape; she is free in madness, but still has no autonomy or power” (Maki
The relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude is strained at first. From the beginning of the play to act III, Hamlet is bitter with his mother. He feels this way because it has been less than four months since the death of his biological father, yet she is already remarried to Claudius. He feels his father is being betrayed from her lack of mourning. She tells her son to "cast thy nighted color off" (I.ii.68) and "all that lives must die" (I.ii.72). Clearly, she isn't grieving over her late husband's death and instead puts forth an optimistic attitude to her new husband and life. Gertrude's concern with Hamlet's odd behaviour after his encounter with Ophelia in act II scene i also shows the strain in their relationship. For example, she agrees with Claudius' words that "of Hamlet's transformation" (II.ii.5) and suggests Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy and find out the underlying cause of her son's problems. In addition to that, she consents Polonius to hide behind the tapestry in act III scene iv without Hamlet knowing. These two decisions suggest their inability to communicate. Instead, spying is required for Gertrude to find out about her son's inner mentality. The mother and ...
Ophelia’s death in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” has been a favorite among visual artist for years. Many artists interpret her description of her death with visual art that demonstrate the beauty and innocent of Ophelia’s death. Many of the images in “The Death of Ophelia” by SophieAmazing on YouTube show a young woman who ended her life in a beautiful way. At the end of Act 4, Scene 7 of Hamlet, Gertrude describes Ophelia’s tragic death. Gertrude says, “There with fantastic garlands did she come of crowflowers, nettles, daises, and long purples, that liberal shepherds give a grosser name, but our cold maids do “dead men’s fingers” call them.”
to predict how they will treat other women in their life. Hamlet is a good
There is much similarity between Gertrude and Ophelia in the play. Both are attractive and simple minded, and are easily shaped by opinion, desires and ideas of others. Ophelia and Gertrude seem to be the same women at different stages in their lives. This may be one of the reasons why Hamlet was first attracted to Ophelia and now the reason why Hamlet rejects Ophelia.
The Queen gives a remarkably detailed account of Ophelia’s death leaving one to believe that she may have witnessed the event. We know that she emphasized with Ophelia’s suffering to such an extent that perhaps she realized that the kindest action to take would be to let Ophelia decide her own fate, although she clearly was not in a fit state of mind to do this and was barely aware of her surroundings “incapable of her own distress.” Ophelia’s death is “beautified” as she dies in a romantic and beautiful scene befitting her character where she was surrounded by her garland of flowers. (Ophelia herself was “beautified” in a letter from Hamlet which Polonius found to be a “vile phrase.”) There is much detail, leading me to believe that Gertrude is trying to soften the blow for Laertes who is already enraged over his father’s death and his sister’s madness; the King says, “How much I had to do to clam his rage.” This is a typically selfish reaction of Claudius which serves to emphasize the need for Laertes to control his grief, as he is an extremely fiery character.
As Hamlet’s mother, Hamlet’s father’s wife, and Hamlet’s brother’s wife, Gertrude is blind to all other reasons that are not Hamlet’s father’s death and her quick remarriage. However, Polonius believes differently and tells Claudius how Ophelia obeyed his advice to "lock herself from his resort,/ Admit no messengers, receive no tokens.into the madness wherein now [Hamlet] raves" (Shakespeare 2.2. 142-149. See the 142-149. Polonius presumes that Hamlet's disillusioned love for Ophelia causes his madness.
In the play “Hamlet,” Gertrude and Ophelia share similarities and they are also contrasting characters. Gertrude, the mother of Hamlet, is a loving, honorable, protective mother. Ophelia, Hamlet’s love interest, is young, foolish, and underestimated. One of the main stances, to which they both contrast, is their love for Hamlet.
Gertrude was Hamlet’s mother. She was a selfish and evil woman. She cheated on Hamlet’s father with Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle. She married Claudius a month after her husband’s death. Gertrude wanted Hamlet to stop his grieving. She told Hamlet, “thou know’st ‘tis common, all that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity” (I.2.72-73). When Hamlet was depressed and grieving, it reminded Gertrude of the terrible sin she had committed. She wanted Hamlet to be happy just so she could feel better about herself. Throughout the play Gertrude’s motives do not waiver; she looks out for her own well being.
When writing Hamlet, Shakespeare created a complex play that relies on the roles of two important women to aid the progression of the plot. Although Queen Gertrude and Ophelia rarely speak, they function as a way for the men become informed about Hamlet’s mental state and motives for madness. Each woman made choices that greatly impacted the story plot and the lives of the characters. Ophelia’s suicide causes Laertes’s to desire revenge on Hamlet, and Gertrude’s infidelity and purposeful ignorance intensifies Hamlet’s urge for revenge.
Hamlet considers both Gertrude and Ophelia to be sinful women due to the loss and gain of love throughout their lives. Since learning about the truth regarding the death of his father, Hamlet holds a grudge against him Gertrude. Hamlet blames Gertrude's incestous act for the death of his father. "A bloody deed. Almost as bad, good mother,/ As kill a King and marry with his brother" (3.4: 28-29). After King Hamlet's ghost had appeared before Hamlet to inform him about the reality of his death, Hamlet was overcome by anger. Hamlet's anger leads to a change in his view regarding Gertrude since he loses his mother-son connection with her. By believing that Gertrude played a part in the death of his father, Hamlet develops a solid hatred for Gertrude