Essay Considering Gertrude of Shakespeares Hamlet -- GCSE English Lit

Gertrude of settlement In Hamlet, Gertrude is a fair sex who means no harm but whose poor judgment contributes greatly to the terrible events that occur. There are only devil female characters in the play, and neither one--Gertrude or Ophelia--is assertive. But the decisions Gertrude does make eventually lead to her devastation and the downfall of others as well. We first realize in Act I, shooter 2 that poor judgment is her major character flaw. As the pose of a grieving son, Gertrude should have been much sensitive to Hamlets feelings. Instead, less than two months after King Hamlets death, Gertrude remarries Claudius, her dead husbands own brother. Gertrude should have realized how broken Hamlet would feel as a result, because at that time it was considered incestuous for a widow to marry her husbands brother. There is also jealousy on the part of a son, who feels that his mother should be giving him more aid during the mourning period. Gertrude is not in touch with he r own sons feelings to see wherefore he is angry. Hamlet expresses this outrage during his first soliloquy O, most smelly speed, to postWith such dexterity to incestuous sheets (I.ii 156-157) Gertrude is shown to be a loving mother but a parent who cannot read into her sonss behavior. When answering Hamlet, she says that it is greenness for all men to die, but this is not just any military man who has died, she should realize its Hamlets own father Also, when Gertrude asks Hamlet If it be,Why seems it so concomitant with thee? (I.ii 74-75) she means to calm him down, but the word seems only makes Hamlet more suspicious. She fails to realize that in his sensitive mood, the word seems will give Hamlet the ... ... him But she finally has to admit to herself that Claudius is guilty of murdering old Hamlet and of difficult to murder Hamlet. When she warns Hamlet not to drink the wine, she again is showing pity for her son and her wish to protect him from danger. In other w ords, the plays last moving picture summarizes Gertrudes two sides. As a mother, she means well and does have take for her son but her bad decisions and failure to judge people right are a major cause of the tragedy. If Gertrude had been a different benignant of person, many of the deaths might not have happened. List of Works Cited Bradley, A.C. Shakespearian Tragedy. New York, 1965.Cohen, Michael. Hamlet in My Minds Eye. Athens (Georgia), 1980.Coyle, Martin, ed. New Casebooks Hamlet. New York, 1992.King, Walter N. Hamlets see for Meaning. Athens (Georgia), 1982-.