She is a shallow, amiable character. She thinks only about her body and external pleasures. Despite her genuine caring attachment to Hamlet, she is still willing to let Claudius exclude him from the throne She is living under Claudius’ shadow echoing his commands and some of his words. Claudius is also charming her with fine clothes, soft pillows and warm baths. Another character in the play who bosses her around is Polonius who has no right, by not being related to her. We see this in Act Three, Scene Four when Polonius tell Gertrude that he is going to hide in his room and eavesdrop on her conversation with Hamlet. This backfires on him as this eventually leads to his death.
Despite her shallow exterior she shows great love towards Hamlet when he confronts her. She truly doesn’t know what she has done to make Hamlet so furious. It is only when he explains to her, that she can apprehend what she has done wrong.
“ O Hamlet, speak no more, Thou turn’st my very eyes into my soul, And there I see such black and grained spots.. These words are like daggers to my ears, No more, sweet Hamlet”. Gertrude isn’t an evil character but is tainted by Claudius
Another character put in a very negative light is Ophelia, a quintessential obedient daughter and the lover of Hamlet. Ophelia is a passive victim of Polonius, her father, and Claudius. In Act 3, Scene One she allows herself to be degraded by them as they spy on her conversation with Hamlet. Hamlet shows extreme cruelty as he turns to Ophelia. “Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldns’t though be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of such things, that it were better my mother had not borne me;.. We are arrant knaves all, believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery. Where’s your father?”
Although he seems to be physically hurting mentally as well as physically there might be another explanation as to why he said those things. It could have been because he wanted to protect Ophelia from all the corruption, thus sending her to a nunnery. He is predicting horrible, rotten bloodshed that will follow soon.
Hamlet is often sceptical about women. He says to Ophelia “or is thou wilt marry, marry a fool, for wise me know well enough what monsters you make of them”. This shows how bitter he is towards women and how bitter he is towards the worlds. This bitterness might have been created because he feels that the only two women in his life have betrayed him, his mother by marrying Claudius and Ophelia rejecting his love.
In my opinion so far by reading the play is that Gertrude does need to be put into some negative light for certain reasons. She is too callous towards Hamlet’s feelings. She is too gullible, as she is being influenced by Claudius the nefarious villain of the play by extravagant pleasures. I am also astonished by her lack of grief towards her dead husband, how impetuously she married Claudius, a manipulative character but to capitulate so easily left me bewildered. Nevertheless I also have left to believe that she lived a dull, boring life with King Hamlet. He was a model husband, devoted to Gertrude. He seems self-opinionated as he doesn’t hesitate to compare himself favourably against Claudius “a wretch whose natural gifts were poor, To those of mine”. I also see King Hamlet to be over-protective with Gertrude and over-attentive. She could not be satisfied with the perfect marriage he was able to create and so I can understand that with the advances of Charming Claudius appearing, with his flattery and gifts she was impressed and welcomed him.
As for Ophelia in the play I do not feel that she should’ve been put into much negative light. She is nothing but an innocent soul with a childlike nature. She has very little knowledge of the ways of the world. She tries to protect her father. In act 3, Scene 1, when talking to Hamlet, he asks her about the whereabouts of her father now. Her frightened response to a sudden question is but a lie, but the truth would expose her to danger. “Where’s your father? “ “At home, my Lord. Ophelia is a fragile, obedient young woman. Hamlet’s view of women in general makes it impossible for him to believe that Ophelia is like to prove any better. She is a pitiful character. Ophelia is the victim of Gertrude’s betrayal of Hamlet’s father.
I agree that Shakespeare presents women as being morally weak, dominated by men, unable to make their own choices. As you can see both women in the play are led by men. Hamlet is represented as a misogynist.
