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The Ways We Lie Essay

1267 Words6 Pages

In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, corruption is prevalent throughout many characters and the overall setting. Evil corrupts the minds of numerous individuals in the play, causing them to devise schemes that eventually lead to rot and destruction. Physical, moral, and sexual decay are conducted and developed with the help of the different types of lies detailed in Stephanie Ericsson’s essay, The Ways We Lie. Both Shakespeare and Ericsson demonstrate in their works that lying is a human condition that affects everyone but also has serious consequences. Through various forms of lies like facade, dismissal, and out-and-out lies, Hamlet depicts how corruption entering the human mind leads to moral decay and ultimately causes one’s downfall.
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Her most profound act of indecency is her refusal to mourn the death of her husband, dismissing Hamlet’s grief and instead enjoying her marriage with her brother-in-law, Claudius. Gertrude demonstrates acts of moral corruption as she fails to recognize Hamlet's sorrow over his father’s death and does not support her son while he is going through a difficult phase. In addition, Gertrude's actions were sexually corrupted, evidenced by her marriage to her brother-in-law. Hamlet defines the nature of their improper marriage by saying, “[w]ithin a month, / [e]re yet the salt of most unrighteous tears / [h]ad left the flushing in her gallèd eyes, / [s]he [Gertrude] married. O, most wicked speed, to post / [w]ith such dexterity to incestuous sheets!” (I.ii.158-162). When Hamlet confronts Gertrude concerning her scandalous marriage to Claudius by informing her that she has his “father much offended”, she dismisses his opinions (III.iv.13). Instead of admitting her wrongdoings and regretting her choices, she undervalues Hamlet's distress and misery by telling him, “you answer with an idle tongue” (III.iv.14). Gertrude continues to engage in wrongdoing alongside Claudius since she lies to herself and Hamlet by dismissing that her behaviours are tainted and immoral. Her failure to discern horrific activities leads her to blindly accept the sinful actions of herself and the other characters in the play. As a result of her unchecked corruption, her soul undergoes moral decay comparable to “an unweeded garden / [t]hat grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature” (I.ii.139-140). The corrupted deeds of Gertrude and the individuals she supports eventually lead to her tragic downfall. Her death induced by Claudius, occurring after she drank wine poisoned by him, demonstrates this. Her last words, “[n]o, no, the drink, the drink! O, my dear Hamlet! / [t]he drink, the drink! I am

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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.

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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.

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9). He immediately challenges her, accusing her of having offended his father, showing an act of arrogance as he assumes the moral high ground. Throughout the conversation, he displays entitlement and self-righteousness, believing he knows what is best for Gertrude, while remaining insensitive to her feelings. In the peak of his arrogance, Hamlet denounces Gertrude's relationship with Claudius, labeling it vile and immoral. He accuses Claudius of being a murderer and shows no restraint in his judgment.

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When he hears of his mother’s remarrying, Hamlet becomes infuriated by the, “Incest” which has taken over the throne. He explicates this statement by speaking, “She married. O, most wicked speed, to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets! It is not, nor it cannot, come to good. But break, my heart; for I must hold my tongue.”

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Throughout the play, Gertrude’s honour is constantly attacked and damaged. Following the death of her beloved husband, a hasty marriage to her former brother-in-law, Claudius, commences. “Although the memories of my dear brother Hamlet’s death are fresh…with sadness and delight do I marry my former sister-in-law” (Shakespeare, pg.10). Gertrude’s integrity and honour is brought into question as she weds the unknown murderer of her deceased husband. A basis of respect for the deceased is an important statue in the court of Denmark.

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Bamber goes into detail in her dissertation Comic Women, Tragic Men, that because of the fact that both King Hamlet’s ghost and Hamlet described Gertrude as being incestuous and seduced by Claudius, and because the ghost mentioned how Claudius would give her gifts while he was still alive, prove her adultery (Bamber, “Comic Women, Tragic Men”).

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all throughout the play, she is questioned for being immortal due to the quickness of her marriage; it seems as though she has no sympathy towards the death of her husband and could not wait to jump into another marriage with Claudius. Hamlet realizes this and says "O, most wicked speed, to post/ with such dexterity to incestuous sheets!" (1.2.161-132). Hamlet has a problem with his mother's sexuality. It's not that he's disgusted by Gertrude's marriage to Claudius, but the fact that he can't stand to think she is having sex.

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Gertrude’s betrayal of her son was caused by Claudius, as he comforted her after her husband’s unfortunate demise, and later married her, this was betrayal to Hamlet because he had a very high opinion of his father and thought very little of his uncle, Hamlet said “-married with my uncle, / My father’s brother, but no more like my father / Then I to Hercules; within a month” [I, ii, 151-153] showing that he believes that his mother betrayed him and his father’s memory by marrying his uncle, it also

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To begin, Gertrude is a victim because she is naive that eventually leads to her death. At the end of the play when Hamlet and Laertes are fencing, Gertrude unknowingly drinks the cup of wine filled with poison. Even after Claudius warns her not to drink it, she persists and tells him, “I will, my lord; I pray you pardon me” (5.2.318). Gertrude here thinks

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The ghost talks privately to Hamlet about his mother and the real murderer of his death. For instance, the ghost explains to Hamlet how she was seduced, “Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast, With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts⎯ O wicked wit and gifts, that have power”(Ⅰ.ⅴ.41-44). This reveals how Gertrude is easily manipulated by the gifts and the “love” that Claudius had in store for her. Also about the unfaithfulness and adultery that Gertrude committed. Moreover, the ghost states Gertrude’s sexuality, “So lust, though to a radiant angel linked, Will sate itself in a celestial bed And prey on garbage”(I.v.55-57).

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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/

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Contextually, Gertrude is Hamlet's mother and the wife of Claudius, brother of her late husband. His stage presence is reduced because it appears that in nine out of twenty scenes and its appearance is often had to his royal status. In addition, Gertrude is a woman represented as being inert, does undertaking any real action during the play. Indeed, it does not come to the aid of his son Hamlet all throughout history and finds deleted before men dominate the work. Gertrude is a dependent character of men, especially Claudius.

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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

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