Angel Marin
Period 2
1-8-19
English HL 1
Mrs. James
Characterization of Gertrude in Hamlet
One of the main characters in Shakespeare’s Hamlet is Queen Gertrude. Queen Gertrude is also considered one of the antagonists in the play. Her roles in the play are being a mother to Prince Hamlet and the Queen of Denmark. Most importantly, Queen Gertrude, mother to Prince Hamlet is characterized as an unloyal and unloving character in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
First and foremost, we can tell that Queen Gertrude unloyal due to her actions and the way that other characters. In Hamlet’s soliloquy, from Act 1, scene 2, he describes how Queen Gertrude wasn’t mournful towards King Hamlet’s death. “O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason, Would have mourn'd longer”. This quote implies that Queen Gertrude had no love towards her husband since she did mourn for long. This quote is important because Hamlet directly states that a beast would have mourned a longer for a dead person. This piece of evidence contributes as evidence to prove that Gertrude is unloyal. In addition we can infer that Gertrude had something to do with King Hamlet’s death because she marries him right after King Hamlet dies. Prince Hamlet states that “married with mine uncle, My father's brother; but no more like my father”. This implies that Gertrude basically had no love for King Hamlet because she married Claudius, her brother in law, as soon as King Hamlet died. This is important because it brings of the motif of uncertainty because we don’t know if she had something to do with her ex-husband’s death. Finally, we also see unloyalty in the scene where Gertrude is making out with Prince Hamlet. In Act 3, Scene 4, we see the unloyalty when Hamlet states “Nay, but to live In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love Over the nasty sty”. This shows that she wasn’t loyal to Claudius either since she is making out with her son. Furthermore, Gertrude’s actions cause Hamlet to get away from her and feel depressed.In conclusion, we can infer that Gertrude is a woman that is not loyal due to the fact that she cheats on the per...
