Hamlet\'s Mother Gertrude PDF

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notes on The Character of Hamlet’s Mother Gertrude aka the Queen ...

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Tasnia Ahmed

March 1, 2016

ENG220- J. Regan The Character of Hamlet’s Mother Response In the commentary concerning Hamlet’s mother, Carolyn Heilbrun argued that Queen Gertrude’s character did not receive the critical attention it deserves. Gertrude is the mother of the protagonist, widow of the Ghost (late King Hamlet), and bride of Denmark’s present-day King. Sigmund Freud even described Gertrude as the object of Hamlet’s Oedipus complex, which makes Gertrude a motivation for Hamlet’s mission in the play. However, what Heilbrun did not agree with is critics accepting Hamlet’s use of the word “frailty” when describing his mother. She noted that critics view Gertrude’s character as someone who lacks intelligence and shows weakness altogether. Critics also discussed whether Gertrude took part in the murder of King Hamlet, and committed adultery before the King’s death. While the critics agreed that the Queen had no knowledge of the murder, they viewed her as someone shallow, and incapable of assisting in any rational situation. I think from the beginning of the play, readers had this idea because we paid more attention to the fact that she married two months after her husband’s death than to the speech she utters. Professor Bradley compared Gertrude to a soft animal (“She loved to be happy, like a sheep in the sun…”) and said she believed the world to be a place where people could be cheerful. Granville-Barker said in Gertrude, we received a woman who do not mature, nor does she wish to (“as we see her, desperately refusing to grow old.”) Granville-Barker added that Claudius held the Queen as he won her, and she moves through his shadow. Heilbrun stated that one of the biggest misunderstandings about Gertrude is that a woman of forty-five years cannot feel any

sexual passion or arouse. Granville-Barker wrote that the Queen does not do much except echo her husband’s wishes, using the welcoming scene of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as an example. He would have readers presume that Claudius won her over by his skill of words. Heilbrun then discussed the Ghost telling us how his brother won over his wife. He used the word “garbage” to describe Claudius and said “lust” preys on garbage. Heilbrun notes that the word lust in women of the age of forty-five or more is the key word in the Ghost’s speech there. She says critics failed to grasp Gertrude’s lust and desire for sexual relation as the main factor, which drove her to an incestuous marriage briefly after her husband’s death. It was this flaw and weakness that led Gertrude to keep her only son away from the throne. Bradley and Granville-Barker failed so perceive Gertrude as the strong-minded woman instead of frail and indecisive in her marriage to Claudius. Heilbrun stated that in order to understand Gertrude’s true character, we must examine the lines Shakespeare chose for her to say. She is pithy in her speech except for the scene where she describes Ophelia’s death. While her speeches are quick, she appears to speak in a loving and warm way, which overpowers the mark of her being a shallow and dull woman. I admit that before reading Carolyn Heilbrun’s arguments in her commentary I too believed Gertrude was a superficial, selfish woman who was dependent of the men in her life. I expected to read about Gertrude’s questionable character, but it was the exact opposite. Heilbrun specified Gertrude’s moments of speech throughout the play. In the beginning, Gertrude asks her son to remain in Denmark, because he is greatly loved there. If she were as selfish as critics made her out to be, she would not care

whether her son remained or left. When Claudius notifies Gertrude that Polonius believes he knows what is driving Hamlet to act the way he is, the Queen replies concisely. She said she doubts it is anything other than his father’s death and their hurried marriage. She did not echo her husband’s words, but rather said what she believed to be true. When Polonius enters and started to ramble, she interrupted him and said “More matter, with less art”, urging him to get to the point. This was also a moment she did not act under the King’s wishes. In Act three, we see Gertrude’s kind nature and concern when she expresses her appreciation to Ophelia, and asks Guildenstern and Rosencrantz about Hamlet. Before leaving the room for Ophelia to be stuck with Claudius and her father, the Queen chose to offer Ophelia words of encouragement. She said “So shall I hope your virtues will bring him to his wonted way again, to both your honors. I agree with Heilbrun that it is unsuitable to view the Queen as a shallow unsentimental person as Bradley made her out to be, because she just wished for class distinctions to be dismissed in the face of true love regarding Hamlet and Ophelia. Before The Mousetrap play, Gertrude asks Hamlet to sit next to her so he feels like he has a place in the court of Denmark. After the closet scene with Hamlet and his mother, I felt Gertrude betrayed her son by running to Claudius and informing him about what just occurred. However, she did not share with him everything that Hamlet told her. Whether she believes Hamlet or thinks he is insane is also questionable. When Laertes storms in ready to attack his father’s killer, Gertrude says that Claudius did not kill Polonius. While critics may see this as a foolish act because she is defending Claudius, it does make sense that she told Laertes to prevent any meaningless damage. At Ophelia’s funeral, Gertrude is the only

person who decently mourns her death. She gives a small, yet significant speech and says she wishes that Ophelia became Hamlet’s wife. Gertrude’s last words before she died were to warn Hamlet that the drink was poisoned. Heilbrun wrote that critics, who called her stupid before, admired her death and described it as uncharacteristic. It is important to note that lust was the important factor that led Gertrude to commit in an incestuous marriage. In the closet scene, Hamlet tells his mother that her need for sexual passion separated her from her husband’s memory to the arms of his incomparable brother. Gertrude admits that she knows her lust is her sin but does not wish to remain on the discussion anymore. We see that when Gertrude expresses the way she sees reality, she does not discriminate the talent when using it upon her own self. I do not know for sure whether Gertrude committed adultery before the late King Hamlet passed away. To accept that she did, would go as far to accept that she was connected with his murder, which I do not believe to be true. Professor Dover Wilson presented his argument by accepting the Ghost’s use of the word “adulterate.” Wilson, along with other critics believe the Ghost is referring to Gertrude. However, I feel as if he was just using the term to describe Claudius. Gertrude does not get enough credit for her character, which Heilbrun emphasized throughout the commentary. When we look back at her lines, we are then able to distinguish between what the critics say about her shallow character, and about Heilbrun’s argument that she is strong-minded and penetrating....