External Conflict In Hamlet

In Hamlet, the state of family dynamics as well as the concept of trust is challenged through Hamlet’s external conflict with his mother, Queen Gertrude. Hamlet, already in mourning, is enraged at his mother and his uncle, Claudius, the new king of Denmark, for marrying so shortly after the death of his father; Gertrude attempts to comfort Hamlet in that death is a key element of life and is immutable. Hamlet does not openly express his discontent towards Gertrude and Claudius at first, though he does make his mourning known “Seems, madam! nay it is; I know not 'seems.' 'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother… These but the trappings and the suits of woe”(I.ii.76-87). Hamlet, who is grief stricken, is beset by immeasurable conflicts that weigh down on his soul: a heartbroken love, grief of a dead father, disgust of his incestuous uncle. Yet, nothing amounts to the anger toward his mother, who neither shares the same pain of death as he does nor the deferential remembrance of his dead father (her former husband). That he cannot be consoled by his own kin greatly pains him; he concludes that a woman’s love is fickle: “frailty, thy name is woman” (I.ii. 146). Thus Hamlet feels that Gertrude, not only betrayed his father, but also has betrayed the sanctity of love and marriage and kinship. However, Gertrude is emotionally torn over the

Hamlet’s conflicting views of his mother’s marriage drive forward her gradual realization of her offense towards the sanctity of family but to herself. Hamlet’s conflict with his mother heighten the importance of principled love as well as familial strength and