Frailty, thy name is woman(TM)(TM) A.C Bradley has judged Gertrude to be a weak and unfaithful wife(TM)(TM) How far do you agree with this perception of her?

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‘‘Frailty, thy name is woman’’ A.C Bradley has judged Gertrude to be a ‘‘weak and unfaithful wife’’ How far do you agree with this perception of her?

Shakespeare’s Gertrude has been perceived in various ways throughout the centuries due to changes in society and the changing view of women’s status. A range of critics have interpreted the character of Gertrude in their own way, A.C Bradley believes her to be a ‘‘dull and very shallow’’ woman who is content to please others. However this view that A.C Bradley has generated may be due to the Victorian patriarchal society he lived in. Women were seen as subservient to men and the general expectations of women were to live in the domestic sphere. Furthermore A.C Bradley’s view on Gertrude may have been influenced by the Victorian queen who mourned the death of her husband till her own death, which contrasts with Gertrude who has an ‘‘o’er-hasty’’ marriage after King Hamlet’s death. In contrast to A.C Bradley, Rebecca Smith a modern critic has a more positive perspective of Gertrude. Having lived through a feminist period, Smith argues against the traditional presentation of Gertrude and believes her to be ‘‘a soft, obedient, dependent, unimaginative woman’’ who has divided loyalties to Claudius and Hamlet. Another critic Lisa Jardine is sympathetic towards Gertrude and comments on how she is a key character despite having very little speech throughout the play.

Moreover Shakespeare’s initial audience were Elizabethans who may have compared Queen Gertrude to Elizabethan royalty. The Elizabethan’s queen, Elizabeth I prioritised her country over love which may contrast with Gertrude who may have been perceived as placing love before ‘duty’. In the Elizabethan era it was traditional for a king to be mourned for a year after his death which again contrasts with Gertrude’s marriage so soon after her husband’s death. Elizabeth I cousin Mary Queen of Scots married Lord Darnley hastily after her husband’s death reflecting the similarity of Gertrude’s marriage to Claudius. Furthermore religious law banned marriage to a husband’s brother which both Hamlet and the Ghost pursue later in the play. Hamlet focuses his attention on his mother’s incestuous marriage and emphasises that Gertrude is her ‘‘husband’s brother’s wife’’ as does the Ghost in expressing his disgust towards the marriage, asking Hamlet to ‘‘Let not the royal bed of Denmark be /A couch for luxury and damned incest’’. Elizabeth’s own father, Henry VIII divorced his wife Katherine of Aragon using the fact that he had married his dead brother’s widow as reasoning to marry Ann Boleyn. Therefore certain comparisons can be made between the Elizabethan royal family and Shakespeare’s royal family of Denmark.  

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In Act 1 scene 2 Gertrude makes her first appearance and is presented alongside her new husband Claudius. Claudius addresses the Danish court and states Gertrude is ‘‘Th’imperial jointress to this warlike state’’ which highlights her important role in the ruling of Denmark and that Claudius seemingly sees her as an equal. In addition Gertrude’s marriage to Claudius provides political and domestic continuity which benefits Denmark which has become a ‘‘warlike state’’ due to young Fortinbras of Norway. Gertrude’s first words are directed to Hamlet as are her last words emphasising her concern for her son’s welfare. Her first ...

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