Act 1 of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet reveals a plethora of flaws within each character, specifically Gertrude. Hamlet has no trouble in pointing out that after the death of Gertrude’s husband, King Hamlet, she wastes no time in remarrying. Hamlet also criticizes Gertrude because she doesn’t just remarry; she marries King Hamlet’s brother, Claudius. Furthermore, Claudius is accused of being an adulterer by the Ghost, “that incestuous, that adulterate beast” (1.5.42). The Ghost’s accusation can suggest that Claudius may have been with Gertrude while King Hamlet was still alive.
Queen Gertrude is the Queen of Denmark, Hamlet’s mother, the widow of Old Hamlet and the wife of Claudius, brother of her dead husband. Gertrude is ignorant and a woman who means no harm but because of her actions it contributes greatly to the terrible events that occur throughout the play. In this play there’s many conflicts, one of the first conflicts was when Gertrude married King Claudius two months after Old Hamlet’s death. Gertrude is ignorant because she’s not aware of anything happening. For example she’s not aware that King Hamlet’s murder was by his own brother Claudius, even though they were some hints out there to show that it was King Claudius who killed Old Hamlet.
(Shakespeare, pg. 201). As a consequence of Gertrude’s dishonor to Hamlet’s father, Hamlet’s last words to his mother were filled with anger and madness rather than sadness and sorrow. Gertrude’s role in Hamlet is one of many characters emphasizing honour being attacked. Had the Queen not hastily married her brother-in-law and husband’s murderer, Gertrude’s honour as a queen, wife and mother may have been
Hamlet is not justified by treating Gertrude the way he did. Gertrude said that Hamlet has offended his new stepfather by the play that he put on (to find out if Claudius actually did kill the king). After Hamlet hears that his mother is not proud by the way he has been acting Hamlet just goes off on her. Hamlet then says that his mother has offended his real father (King Hamlet) and completely intimidates her. Then Hamlet accuses Gertrude of lustfulness and his mother starts crying and begs him to go.
Hamlet was left to feel like he was Betrayed when he found out that his Uncle murdered his father, In the quote “Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast, With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts- So to seduce!- won to his shameful lust The will of my most seeming- virtuous queen.” the techniques used in this quote was “Won to his shameful lust The will of my most seeming- virtuous queen.” This metaphor shows that Claudius desired to be King and so he manipulated Queen Gertrude to marry him. This is one of the motivations that Claudius had for killing King Hamlet.
The main character of William Shakespeare’s tragedy is actually a confused person that’s stuck between two choices. Some may argue that he feels guilty for his father’s death and so it’s his duty to avenge it. While others may disagree and conclude that he is just a maniac who is both violent and dangerous. Hamlet passes through the lane of hesitancy, where he hesitates to kill King Claudius. As a matter of fact, the main conflict of Hamlet is that he feels both the need to solve the crime and punish the responsible.
King Hamlet loved Gertrude with all his heart that he “might not beteem the winds of heaven visit her face too roughly” this represents true unforgettable love. Hamlet is exasperated about his mother’s hasty marriage that he claims a “beast that wants discourse of reason would have mourned longer”. Gertrude’s hasty marriage with Claudius seems to Hamlet as done with “wicked speed to post with such dexterity to incestous sheets” showing Hamlet is disgusted with this relationship and aggressively disapproves to this action. Further into the play Act 3 Scene 2, Hamlet is having a conservation with Ophelia when he mentions “look you how cheerfully my mother looks, and my father died within two hours” showing anger towards the happiness of his mother. Throughout the play Hamlet uncovers horrible deeds his uncle has committed, which were “Remorseless, Treacherous, lecherous”.
It is clear throughout the story there is a theme of the relationship between fathers and their children. That relationship is drawn from a parallel between Cordelia and Edgar, as they are both facing a similar course of events. Their fathers as well share a commonality in how they both act in both neglecting them. There are hidden values presented within these corresponding situations, and as we shift the focus to breaking down Cordelia and Edgar, we observe how fathers can treat their children unfairly.
In Hamlet there are three key families Hamlets Family, Polonius’s family, and Fortinbras’s family. There are many similarities between the three families. “One similarity is that at least one of the members of the family has a hidden agenda”. Hamlet wants to get revenge or his father’s death. Laertes wants to kill Hamlet because he killed Polonius.
Hamlet’s views on women is adulterous which pertains to the misogynistic tendencies in the play; thus, Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, sparks up his misogynistic approaches. Hamlet is repulsed with Gertrude since she was quick to re-wed immediately following Old Hamlet’s death and cries: “She married. O, most wicked speed, to post / With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!” (1.2.156-157). Hamlet is shocked that his mother remarries to Claudius, Old Hamlet’s brother, before letting the tears on her cheek to dry.
Hamlet couldn’t understand why his mother would remarry so hurry after her husband’s death, and especially the fact that it’s to his uncle, his father’s brother, Claudius. He is disgusted by the fact that Gertrude is guilty of incest. He says “A little month, or ere those shoes were old With which she followed my poor father's body, Like Niobe, all tears—why she, even she (O, God, a beast, that wants discourse of reason Would have mourned longer!), married with my uncle, My father's brother, but no more like my father Than I to Hercules. ”(I. ii. 28)
What made it even worse was his mom, Gertrude, ended up marrying Claudius shortly after King Hamlet's death. After the king is murdered, Hamlet saw his father’s “ghost” which told him that Claudius was in fact the one that killed him and that he wanted Hamlet to seek revenge for him by killing Claudius, but not to punish his mother for remarrying. The ghost said to Hamlet, “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. Murder most foul, as in the best it is, / But this most foul, strange, and unnatural” and Hamlet replied, “Haste me to know 't, that I, with wings as swift / As
Throughout the conversation and various parts of the play, Hamlet expresses his disgust for his mother 's actions. He insults her by comparing his father to Hyperion and Claudius to a satyr. He tells Gertrude not to sin by sleeping with him and tells her she is nothing but lustful for marrying a man like Claudius when he says, “That blurs the grace and blush of modesty,/ Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose/ From the fair forehead of an innocent love/ And sets a blister there, makes marriage vows/
In act one Gertrude marries her dead husband 's brother Claudius, Hamlet is not very happy that his mother did this. Hamlet feels very betrayed by his own mother because she remarried so quickly. He feels as if this is an unforgivable
The tragedy of the entire last scene is the result of the royal family’s own corruption. Because of the clan’s death is caused by themselves, this play can be viewed as a single, paramount suicide of Denmark’s royalty. Examples of this include Gertrude’s adultery, Claudius’s hunger for power, and Polonius’s overbearingness. Gertrude contributes to the undoing of the clan by marrying Claudius, leading to the alienation of her son. In Hamlet’s first soliloquy, the lines, “...within a month- / Let me not think on’t!
