“Be thou assured, if words be made of breath,
And breath of life, I have no life to breathe
What thou hast said to me”
Also for the other characters around the pair it is clear to them how much she loves him; so much so that Claudius must deceive her too when it comes to sabotaging Hamlet, he knows that Gertrude ‘lives almost by his looks’. What perplexes me about Gertrude’s character is that although we know that she adores Hamlet she still went against him and scorned him in two ways. The first way being that she married Claudius in the first place, he is Hamlet’s father’s brother and the second is the speed in which they got married, it was just two months after her husband’s death. I believe this is supports the first statement perfectly when labelling her as ‘vain and self satisfied’. Perhaps she is not as sensitive and thoughtful as first thought as she has chosen to satisfy her own needs when getting married to Claudius. Gertrude’s awareness of this is shown when asked what the cause of his madness could be she states:
“I doubt it is no other but the main,
His father’s death and our o’erhasty marriage”
Therefore she cannot be an ‘unimaginative woman’ as she knows exactly what is bothering Hamlet and does not attempt hide the fact that she knows. This brings a darker shade to Gertrude’s character, suddenly she seems intelligent, strong and she doesn’t seem to mind what others think of her- good or bad.
In act III Hamlet asks Gertrude’s opinion of the play Mousetrap, she replies “The lady doth protest too much methinks” line 211, this reveals that she is aware that he is trying to make her feel uncomfortable. I have observed that when Gertrude is with other characters I find that she likes to present herself as a strong woman. She comes across very self assured.
Gertrude’s actions when she is alone are another way to get an insight to her character. Most of the time when she is online and speaks aside she seems like an innocent misled character, ‘a quiet, biddable careful mother and wife’ as the second statement supports. In Act 4, Scene 5, alone for the first time in the play, Gertrude describes her soul as ‘sick’ with sin and apprehension. Gertrude knows what she has done is wrong and it seems that her conscience has kicked in causing her the apprehension. She is obviously very upset with herself what she has done (marrying Claudius) and perhaps she is frustrated that she had not known that her previous husband was murdered. However she cannot be vain and self satisfied as the first statement indicates because she is sick to the soul with her actions. I perceive Gertrude to be quiet and careful because she only states her true feelings and worries in asides, where the only people that can hear her are the audience. The other characters in the play may not know what Gertrude is really feeling and this could be because she wants it to be that way, she could want to be seen as in control and strong when really she is not.
Hamlet and Gertrude clearly have good relationship, even though Gertrude betrayed him and married Claudius. Hamlet still doesn’t think of her with the same hate as he does Claudius. Even Old Hamlet’s ghost doesn’t think badly of Gertrude he tells Hamlet to remember his ‘purpose’ when confronting Gertrude, his purpose is revenge.
“But look, amazement on thy mother sits.
O, step between her and her fighting soul”
Gertrude’s shocked echo ‘As kill a king? (line 29) and the ‘wringing of [her] hands’ (line 34) signal not only her innocence of the deed , but her shock in discovering that her new husband murdered her first. This cannot be the reaction of a deceitful woman because she clearly had no idea that her first husband was murdered. This supports the theory that she is an “unimaginative” woman.
Gertrude seems very loyal to Claudius on the surface, they often side with each other when it comes to making decisions. Often through out the play she has followed Claudius’s influence and done as he has asked or has been on the same level of understanding as he has, for example when trying to persuade Hamlet to stay in England rather than go to university and furthermore asking Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to keep an eye on her son’s strange behaviour to find the cause. However what I find very interesting is that Gertrude does not think twice about following Hamlets wishes when it comes to Claudius. He asks her not to tell Claudius the reason for his behaviour and she does not. However we can’t be sure if she carries on sharing a bed with Claudius even though Hamlet has demanded that she must not.
Claudius appeals to her in ensuing scenes, ‘O, Come away’, ‘O Gertrude, come away!’, ‘Come Gertrude’ (IV.I.28, 38, 44). Is he insisting because she is so complicit with his desires, or because she is showing reluctance? Perhaps he is leaning towards her for comfort and she is not providing him with any. He tries to get her support over the madness of Ophelia: ‘O Gertrude, Gertrude’, ‘O my dear Gertrude’ (IV.5.78, 95); the text gives her no reply. However, when Laertes arrives with riotous supporters she tries to protect the King; she says he is not responsible for the death of Polonius. Here once again she is trying to please others by defending the King. The audience knows that Claudius is in fact responsible in some ways for Polonius’s death so by defending Claudius, Gertrude could be seen as deceitful to the public. She reports the death of Ophelia to Laertes, not to her husband, which shows the cracks in what was their strong relationship, now she is hiding matters from Claudius. She once again becomes the strong character; she is doing what Hamlet wishes by detaching herself from Claudius. Now she is pleasing Hamlet. In the last scene there is still ample opportunity to resolve the question of Gertrude’s attitude to the King, but there is no indication, one way or the other, in the dialogue or the stage directions whether or not she is friendly towards him or what kind of level their relationship is on, but it could be interpreted that her silence means she is shying away from him.
To conclude my investigation my interpretation of Gertrude is that she is a very intelligent woman/queen. At some points during the play she is a ‘sensual deceitful woman’ who is ‘vain and self satisfied’ this is supported by her decision to marry Claudius even though it could cause uproar. However I do strongly believe that part of her character is her concern to ‘only please others’, she pleases Claudius at the beginning of the play by supporting him when making decisions and agreeing to spy on Hamlet. However when Hamlet reveals to her the truth about his father’s death, her only concern from that point is on is to please Hamlet. Gertrude is a complex character often keeping her true feelings to herself and only appearing weak when she is speaking in asides. Supporting my theory that she likes to appear in control when around the other characters. At the end of the play she drinks the goblet that has the poison in it, in some performances it is made to appear that she knows the poison is in the drink and she drinks it anyway to save Hamlet. I believe that Gertrude’s sole concern throughout the play is the welfare of Hamlet and some critics have said that their relationship has some Freudian characteristics but when it comes to choosing what statement I think best suits Gertrude, I think her character lies firmly in-between both.
Bibliography:
Hamlet
York Notes Advanced Hamlet.
