Custom Essays: Gertrude of Shakespeares Hamlet -- GCSE English Litera

The Gertrude of Hamlet Gunnar Bokland in Hamlet describes Gertrudes moral descent during the course of Shakespeares Hamlet With Queen Gertrude and last also Laertes deeply involved in a situation of increase ugliness, it becomes clear that, although Claudius and those who associate with him are not the incarnations of evil that Hamlet sees in them, they are corrupt enough from any balanced point of view, a condition that is also intimated by the heavy-headed revel that distinguishes life at the danish pastry court. (123) Despite the ugliness in her life, Gertrude has offsetting virtues also. These and other aspects of her multi-faceted character will be treated in this essay. At the outset of the tragedy Hamlet appears habilimented in solemn black. His mother, Gertrude, is apparently disturbed by this and requests of him Good Hamlet, var. thy nighted colour off, And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. Do not for ever with thy vailed lids Seek for thy shocking father in the dust Thou knowst tis common on the whole that lives must(prenominal) die, Passing through nature to eternity. (1.2) The queen obviously considers her sons dejection to result from his fathers demise. Angela Pitt considers Gertrude a kindly, slow-witted, rather indulgent woman. . . . (47). She joins in with the king in requesting Hamlets stay in Elsinore rather than returning to Wittenberg to study. Respectfully the son replies, I shall in all my best obey you, madam. So at the outset the audience notes a decidedly good relationship between Gertrude and those about her in the drama, counterbalance though Hamlets suit of mourning has been a tangible and publi... ...alysis Into Kenneth Branaghs Hamlet. Early Modern Literary Studies 6.1 (May, 2000) 2.1-24 http//purl.oclc.org/emls/06-1/lehmhaml.htm Pitt, Angela. Women in Shakespeares Tragedies. Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego Greenhaven Press, 1996. Rpt. of Shakespeares Women. N.p. n.p., 1981. Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http//www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html Smith, Rebecca. Gertrude Scheming Adulteress or Loving Mother? Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. of Hamlet A drug users Guide. New York Limelight Editions, 1996. Wilkie, Brian and throng Hurt. Shakespeare. Literature of the Western World. Ed. Brian Wilkie and James Hurt. New York Macmillan Publishing Co., 1992.