Shakespeares Hamlet Essay: Who is Gertrude? -- GCSE Coursework Shakes

Hamlet –Who is Gertrude?  Ã‚        Ã‚   This essay intends to explore Gertrude’s situation in the play in an attempt to answer many questions about her, the queen, wife of Claudius and former wife of his deceased brother, King Hamlet.    Back in 1883 Samuel Taylor Coleridge in Lectures and Notes on Shakspere and Other English Poets comments on what he interprets as a problem or inconsistency in the presentation of the character Gertrude in Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet:      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ham. A bloody deed;- almost as bad, good mother,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As kill a king, and marry with his brother.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Queen. As kill a king?    I confess that Shakspere has left the character of the Queen in an unpleasant perplexity. Was she, or was she not, conscious of the fratricide? (364-365)    Remember that the ghost does tell Hamlet not to prosecute the queen, but only Claudius. So she would seem to be innocent of the murder.    At the outset of the drama, Hamlet’s mother is apparently disturbed by her son’s appearance in solemn black at the gathering of the court, and she requests of him:      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Do not for ever with thy vailed lids   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Seek for thy noble father in the dust:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Thou know'st 'tis common; all that lives must die,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Passing through nature to eternity. (1.2)    The queen obviously considers her son’s dejection to result from his father’s demise. She joins the king in asking Hamlet to stay in Elsinore rather than returning to Wittenberg. Respectfully the prince replies, â€Å"I shall in all my best obey you, madam.† So at the outset the audience notes a decidedly good relation... ...zine, 285:2011 (July 1898), 33-41. Rpt. in Women Reading Shakespeare 1660-1900. Eds Ann Thompson and Sasha Roberts. New York: Manchester University Press, 1997.    Burton, Philip. â€Å"Hamlet.† The Sole Voice. New York: The Dial Press, 1970. N. pag. http://www.freehomepages.com/hamlet/other/burton-hamlet.htm    Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. Lectures and Notes on Shakspere and Other English Poets. London : George Bell and Sons, 1904. p. 342-368. http://ds.dial.pipex.com/thomas_larque/ham1-col.htm    Jorgensen, Paul A. â€Å"Hamlet.† William Shakespeare: the Tragedies. Boston: Twayne Publ., 1985. N. pag. http://www.freehomepages.com/hamlet/other/jorg-hamlet.html    Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html No line nos.