Gertrude

• Gertrude as shamelessly sensual and shallow

  • Characterisation provided by Hamlet - he frequently mentions her sexuality and obsesses about her physical relationship with Claudius, describing their martial bed as 'incestuous sheets'
  • Ghost also bitterly laments on Gertrude's sexuality: "So lust, though to a radiant angel linked, will state in a celestial bed and prey on garbage"
  • Suggests Gertrude's voracious lust is what causes her swift marriage to Claudius
• Gertrude as passive

  • She has been traditionally deemed as passive, with critics often discounting the few, short, speeches she makes as merely the reflection of her male counterparts' thoughts and opinions
  • Upon closer analysis, her speech proves to be direct, insightful and innuendo-free. Gertrude often anticipates or correctly identifies key moments, themes or implications within the play as a whole.
• Gertrude as passive pt.2

  • Her clipped instruction to Polonius to speak, "more matter with less art" identifies Polonius as a pretentious, rambling old flood while at the same time asserting her authority and intelligence - all of which is accomplished in a poetic heartbeat
  • She instinctively perceives the true cause of Hamlet's antic disposition in Act 2 and doesn't mince her words when she explains to Claudius that it is their union that has upset Hamlet so much:
  • "It is not other, but the main - His father's death and our o'erhasty marriage"
• Gertrude as submissive

  • Despite Gertrude's shrewd observations she appears to be content not to act upon them, and instead submits to the schemes of her husband and his counsellors in the first half of the play: "I shall obey you"
  • Gertrude's compliance is open to interpretation: does it demonstrate passiveness and apathy, or simply dedication to her spouse and trust in his judgement regarding her son?
• Gertrude as submissive pt.2

  • Gertrude is therefore enigmatic and because of this her character struggles to define herself against Hamlets' explicit open opinions
  • However, the strength and complexities of Gertrude's personality do emerge as the play progresses and she is forced to confront the realities of her situation
• Closet scene

  • Only instance in which Hamlet and Gertrude are alone together on the stage
  • It is the intensity of their interaction as well as the shock of Polonius's assassination and Hamlet's subsequent accusations of murder and incest, which begin to reveal the emotional depths of Gertrude's character:
  • "Thou turn'st mine eye into my very soul, and there I see such black and grained spots."
• Gertrude's moral awakening

  • The knowledge that her first husband, King Hamlet, was murdered by Claudius causes Gertrude to experience a moral awakening: what was once an ethical grey area (her 'o'erhasty marriage') has become a 'black and grained spot' upon her very soul. Gertrude's suffering at these revelations is genuine
  • Her repeated requestions for 'sweet Hamlet' to 'speak to me no more' belie the shame that she now feels.
  • Her reaction is such that even the Ghost, a previous critic, observes that 'amazement on thy mother sits' and warns Hamlet not to distress her further
• Gertrude siding with Hamlet

  • Despite being overwrought Gertrude is able to muster her resolve and come to the aid of her son. She agrees not to divulge that Hamlet is 'mad in craft' and not in fact:
  • "Be thou assured, if words be made of breath and breath of life to breathe what thou hast said to me"
• Gertrude siding with Hamlet pt.2

  • In the closet scene Gertrude swears on her life to keep Hamlet's sanity a secret and to keep her own knowledge of her first husband's murder a secret from her second husband - his murderer. The intimacy forged between the two characters in this scene paves the way for the tragic finale of the play and Gertrude's role in it.
• Gertrude and genre

  • Not only is Gertrude a key figure in the events which inspire and compel Hamlet's quest for revenge, but she is also fundamental in the actualisation of that revenge. Though she is objectively passive in the first part of the play it is in Act 5 Scene 2 that she fully realises her dramatic potential.
  • She wilfully disobeys Claudius by drinking the poisoned wine. She dies with cries of 'the drink! the drink! I am poisoned" and in so doing identifies Claudius as her killer#
• Gertrude and genre

  • Gertrude says Claudius is her killer and this then gives Hamlet clarity of purpose and the means and motive for revenge, which he has soliloquised over and struggled with throughout the play
  • Scholar Marguerite Tassi says of Gertrude says, "In fulfilling her tragic role, the end crowns all; in the final moments of her life she performs an extraordinary act that gives Hamlet a cue for killing the King."
• The Royal Shakespeare Company Gertrude

  • Directed by Gregory Doran
  • Played by Penny Downie and is overtly sexual
  • Doran explained his production was rooted in the premise that Gertrude and Claudius enjoyed a 'vigorous sexual relationship' within and prior to events of the play
• Kenneth Branagh's Gertrude

  • Played by Julie Christie
  • Portrayed as a mild, ineffectual but honest dynastic pawn
  • Julie Christie said of her: "She is not very well developed - none of the women in the play are. She's a passive character who never makes herself clear."
  • She seems oblivious to all political and murderous manoeuvrings surrounding her.