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Hamlet's treatment of gertrude
Hamlet's treatment of gertrude
The role of women in Shakespeare's play
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And What of Gertrude in Hamlet?
To what extent does evil reign in the heart of Queen Gertrude in Shakespeare’s Hamlet? This essay will delve into her character, and into the deposit of literary criticism regarding her, in order to analyze her character in depth.
Philip Edwards’ “The Ghost: Messenger from a Higher Court of Values?” expresses the necessity of the Ghost leaving the guilt of Gertrude to the afterlife:
The final injunction, ‘Leave her to heaven’, must temper our feeling of the Ghost’s personal vindictiveness. It is more important, however, in giving a religious context to the punishment of Claudius and Gertrude. Gertrude’s earthly punishment is to be her conscience: ‘those thorns that in her bosom lodge / To prick and sting her’. Whatever further punishment or exoneration is hers to receive belongs to an after-life. With Claudius it is different. By his words ‘Leave her to heaven’, the Ghost must imply that a higher justice requires the exemplary punishment of Claudius on earth, by the hand of an appointed human being. (67)
At the outset of the tragedy Hamlet appears dressed in solemn black. His mother, Gertrude, is apparently disturbed by this and requests of him:
Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off,
And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
Do not for ever with thy vailed lids
Seek for thy noble father in the dust:
Thou know'st 'tis common; all that lives must die,
Passing through nature to eternity. (1.2)
The queen obviously considers her son’s dejection to result from his father’s demise. Angela Pitt considers Gertrude “a kindly, slow-witted, rather self-indulgent woman. . . .” (47). She join...
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...is Into' Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet." Early Modern Literary Studies 6.1 (May, 2000): 2.1-24 http://purl.oclc.org/emls/06-1/lehmhaml.htm
Pitt, Angela. “Women in Shakespeare’s Tragedies.” Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Rpt. from Shakespeare’s Women. N.p.: n.p., 1981.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html
Smith, Rebecca. “Gertrude: Scheming Adulteress or Loving Mother?” Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from “Hamlet”: A User’s Guide. New York: Limelight Editions, 1996.
Wilkie, Brian and James Hurt. “Shakespeare.” Literature of the Western World. Ed. Brian Wilkie and James Hurt. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1992.
By her account, some of the fun in going to the movies is throwing popcorn, making noises, and leading the other children in disruptions. They all knew from past times how much noise they can make, how far they can push the theater personal before they get into trouble, and they enjoy seeing the personal angry. On this Easter Sunday in question the theater was advertising a film called Gorilla, My Love, but the theater is actually showing a religious picture, King of Kings, and an old Bugs Bunny cartoon. Hazel agitates the children in the crowd in order to cause loud protest, and marches into the manager's office to demand her money back. When the manager refuses to speak or even return her money, she steals a book of matches and lights a fire in the lobby. Somehow, Hazel is so fierce in her explanation, and her voice is so strong and confident, that she seems tough and likeable at the same time. Hazel has been raised to speak her mind, and she does. She avoids a whipping from her father by explaining that the adults had made a promise—that they would show Gorilla, My Love—and broke it. Hazel's rebellion, in her eyes, was a blow for the value of keeping one's word. Knowing she was raised to stand for ...
These questions prove that Gertrude is much more complex than the reader thinks initially. However, her character in the play is an enigma, shallow in depth. Gertrude seems to put on a facade of ignorance. She must protect her own interests.
Lincoln’s optimistic tone encourages all Americans to put behind them the Civil War and progress forward as a united nation once more. President Lincoln calls to action all the peoples of America with sentences such as, “let us strive on to finish the work we are in” and “ to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace”. The tone that President Lincoln capitalizes on is purposefully optimistic because he hopes to end the war and move past the issue of slavery, among others, which has divided the nation, and he wishes to safeguard the nations reunification. Lincoln’s tone also has hortative sentences such as asking the American people to “strive”. President Lincoln also wishes to rid both sides of any grudges or rancor they may feel towards one another for the war by reflecting that “all sought to avert it” and by articulating, “Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it…attained”. And towards the end of his speech, Lincoln calls the nation to be unified “with malice towards none, with charity for all” so that their minds and souls may be cleared of any ill will in order for the nation’s reunification to be permanent and not just superficial. President Lincoln evokes the nation as a whole to a higher degree in hop...
As the racial targeting, hate-crime increased, racial discrimination bullying, becoming victims of prejudice, and having unequal publicity because of bias racial after 9/11 towards the Islam-Americans. It was often proven how Islam-Americans have become pariahs in all religion that are in the categories of Islam, because of the similarity in the image that a Sikh-American or Muslim-American holds. However this bias view in society towards the Islamic-American is certainly wrong because it has created an unfair environment in communities for them which leads them to become and feel pariahs, as it should be change by speaking up, changing the way we socialize around the topic as it may spread.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt is one of the most significant figures in American History. Roosevelt served in office from March 1933 to April 1945, the longest tenure of any other President in United States history. Within these twelve years, Roosevelt was left to handle the burdensome consequences of the time, including The Great Depression and Germany and Japan’s rise to power, which were far beyond his control. Faced with such difficult situations, Roosevelt has combated these challenges in such a way that has left him as a remarkable figure in American history.
Clearly, Hamlet’s concern for the Queen, his mother, is of genuine association to the death of King Hamlet. Within this solitary thought, Hamlet realizes the severity of his mother’s actions while also attempting to rationalize her mentality so that he may understand, and perhaps, cope with the untimely nature of the Queen’s marriage to Claudius. Understandably, Hamlet is disturbed. Gertrude causes such confusion in Hamlet that throughout the play, he constantly wonders how it could be possible that events would turn out the way they did.
Heilbrun, Carolyn G. (2002). Hamlet's Mother and Other Women. 2nd ed. West Sussex: Columbia University Press.
Throughout history there has always been a lower class society and some even lower than that which are known as the homeless. The homeless are people who don’t own homes or don’t live in their own home so they have to live in public places like shelters or even on the street. Homeless like to come out from the shadows and target the weak like a father with his daughter. They target specific groups so they know they can get money out of them easily instead of having to work for it. Homeless people are lazy to get jobs unless they are handed it so they would just sit down on their butts and do nothing until an opportunity comes to them. Homeless people are lazy and don’t want to work for themselves and have to get others to do their work for them because we think they are useless and therefore won’t do anything.
After the death of Old Hamlet and Gertrude’s remarriage to Claudius, Hamlet feels extremely angry and bitter. “How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable / Seem to me all the uses of this world!” (1.2.133-134). Due to the death of his father, he is already in a state of despair and the lack of sympathy that his mother has towards his sorrow does not aid him in recovering from this stage of grief. “Good Hamlet, cast thy knighted colour off, / And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark” (1.2.68-69). Hamlet is struggling to accept the fashion in which Gertrude is responding to the death of Old Hamlet; she seems quite content with her new life with Claudius, which is a difficult concept for him to accept as after the d...
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 ...
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html
The only thing left to make Gertrude unhappy is Hamlet’s refusal to forget the death of his father or to forgive her for remarrying so quickly. In order for her to completely bury the past, she must convince Hamlet to accept her new marriage and forget his father’s death.
Compared to Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Almereyda’s adaptation creates a new reading and highlights various elements more directly through a change in the characterization of Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother. The movie advances her position as a woman, making her a commanding and prominent figure throughout. This new reading of Gertrude from the movie reflects the changes in societal views regarding women, due to varying time periods, progressing the position of Gertrude as a woman, and exploiting ideas of incest, misogyny, and
Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is a complex and ambiguous public exploration of key human experiences surrounding the aspects of revenge, betrayal and corruption. The Elizabethan play is focused centrally on the ghost’s reoccurring appearance as a symbol of death and disruption to the chain of being in the state of Denmark. The imagery of death and uncertainty has a direct impact on Hamlet’s state of mind as he struggles to search for the truth on his quest for revenge as he switches between his two incompatible values of his Christian codes of honour and humanist beliefs which come into direct conflict. The deterioration of the diseased state is aligned with his detached relationship with all women as a result of Gertrude’s betrayal to King Hamlet which makes Hamlet question his very existence and the need to restore the natural order of kings. Hamlet has endured the test of time as it still identifies with a modern audience through the dramatized issues concerning every human’s critical self and is a representation of their own experience of the bewildering human condition, as Hamlet struggles to pursuit justice as a result of an unwise desire for revenge.
Rosenberg, Marvin. “Laertes: An Impulsive but Earnest Young Aristocrat.” Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Masks of Hamlet. Newark, NJ: Univ. of Delaware P., 1992.