Hamlet, i love you not.
because no one really cares. (and because Dylan wanted to read it.)
In Shakespeare’s tragedies it is the women of the plays on whose shoulders most of the blame seems to fall. Hamlet is no exception. Gertrude’s weakness of character and personality can be attributed to being the main source of most, if not all the deaths contained in the play.
Hamlet is one of the few characters who sees Gertrude’s weakness from an early point. He says
… Frailty thy name is woman!-
A little month or ere those shoes were old…
Like Niobe, all tears; -why she, even she,-
O God! A beast that wants discourse of reason
Would have mourn’d longer,… (I, ii, 146-151)
He sees his mother’s wrongs clearly, and it angers him greatly. Her marriage to Claudius is one of Hamlet’s main sources of depression and one of the first indications that something is very wrong in the current state of affairs. Although Gertrude cares deeply for her son, she is not strong enough to take matters into her own hands to try and protect him or cure him of his apparent loss of sanity. When Hamlet asks to leave Denmark in an attempt to come to terms with the loss of his father, Gertrude says to him “... I pray thee, stay with us; go not to Wittenberg.” (I, ii, 119) She thinks only of her own comfort, not of his. Had Hamlet been able to go to Wittenberg, it is possible that the whole catastrophe could have been avoided.
Gertrude is also very easily influenced. She allows Polonius to hide behind a curtain so that he can spy on her supposedly mentally unstable son, prove he is guilty and send Hamlet away to his possible death. Polonius doesn’t even give her the option, he just informs her of his plan and what she is supposed to say,
…Tell him his pranks have been too broad too bear with,
And that your grace hath screen’d and stood between
Much heat and him. I’ll silence me e’en here. (III, iv, 2-4)
Had she stood up for her son, then Polonius would have been spared and Hamlet might not have been sent to England for killing him.
However, though Gertrude is the source of the tragedy, she is not fully responsible for all the deaths. Gertrude is never fully implicated in King Hamlet’s murder and she is divided between love for her son and her love for Claudius. She loves Claudius, but does not support his hate for Hamlet. Claudius notices that “The queen his mother/ Lives almost by his looks.” (IV, vii, 12) She is also apparently innocent as to what Hamlet might have against her, asking him, “What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue/ In noise so rude against me?”
This by no means clears her of culpability. Later she cries,
Thou turns’t mine eyes into my very soul,
And there I see such black and grained spots
As will not leave their tinct. ( III, iv, 91-93)
This forces the reader to acknowledge that while Gertrude has not made the incriminating decisions, she is aware of them and has done nothing to stop them. All this makes her guilty by association.
Claudius lists Gertrude as one of the things he “won” in murdering King Hamlet. While Claudius prays he says “Of those effects for which I did the murder,/ My crown, mine own ambition and my queen.” (III, iii, 55-56) Gertrude herself is a motive for the murders, not exactly an innocent position to be in. While Gertrude had no control over this aspect of her physical and phycological attractiveness, it is hardly believable that she could not have dissuaded Claudius from commiting the murder. Had she completely refused to marry Claudius, then none of the later deaths would have happened. Hamlet would not have sunk into his depression and the ghost would not have been in such dire need of revenge. Hamlet might have even become king instead of Claudius, which was his birthright.
At Ophelia’s funeral, Gertrude says, “I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet’s wife”. She cared deeply for Ophelia, but did nothing to help her grow as a young woman. Ophelia had only the opinions of her father and brother, leaving no one to confide in. When Hamlet ultimately rejects her Ophelia is told it was her fault, causing her to loose her mind with guilt. Had she had someone to assure her that this was not so, or to boost her confidence then it is possible that she would not have lost her mind. Gertrude is the only other female character in the play; therefore this responsibility is left to her. However, she was too busy worrying about Claudius and not acting on Hamlet to do anything to help the young girl.
Due to Gertrude’s weak character, and her subsequent tendencies to simply follow other people’s instructions, the lives of many people were unnecessarily ended.
In Shakespeare’s tragedies it is the women of the plays on whose shoulders most of the blame seems to fall. Hamlet is no exception. Gertrude’s weakness of character and personality can be attributed to being the main source of most, if not all the deaths contained in the play.
Hamlet is one of the few characters who sees Gertrude’s weakness from an early point. He says
… Frailty thy name is woman!-
A little month or ere those shoes were old…
Like Niobe, all tears; -why she, even she,-
O God! A beast that wants discourse of reason
Would have mourn’d longer,… (I, ii, 146-151)
He sees his mother’s wrongs clearly, and it angers him greatly. Her marriage to Claudius is one of Hamlet’s main sources of depression and one of the first indications that something is very wrong in the current state of affairs. Although Gertrude cares deeply for her son, she is not strong enough to take matters into her own hands to try and protect him or cure him of his apparent loss of sanity. When Hamlet asks to leave Denmark in an attempt to come to terms with the loss of his father, Gertrude says to him “... I pray thee, stay with us; go not to Wittenberg.” (I, ii, 119) She thinks only of her own comfort, not of his. Had Hamlet been able to go to Wittenberg, it is possible that the whole catastrophe could have been avoided.
Gertrude is also very easily influenced. She allows Polonius to hide behind a curtain so that he can spy on her supposedly mentally unstable son, prove he is guilty and send Hamlet away to his possible death. Polonius doesn’t even give her the option, he just informs her of his plan and what she is supposed to say,
…Tell him his pranks have been too broad too bear with,
And that your grace hath screen’d and stood between
Much heat and him. I’ll silence me e’en here. (III, iv, 2-4)
Had she stood up for her son, then Polonius would have been spared and Hamlet might not have been sent to England for killing him.
However, though Gertrude is the source of the tragedy, she is not fully responsible for all the deaths. Gertrude is never fully implicated in King Hamlet’s murder and she is divided between love for her son and her love for Claudius. She loves Claudius, but does not support his hate for Hamlet. Claudius notices that “The queen his mother/ Lives almost by his looks.” (IV, vii, 12) She is also apparently innocent as to what Hamlet might have against her, asking him, “What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue/ In noise so rude against me?”
This by no means clears her of culpability. Later she cries,
Thou turns’t mine eyes into my very soul,
And there I see such black and grained spots
As will not leave their tinct. ( III, iv, 91-93)
This forces the reader to acknowledge that while Gertrude has not made the incriminating decisions, she is aware of them and has done nothing to stop them. All this makes her guilty by association.
Claudius lists Gertrude as one of the things he “won” in murdering King Hamlet. While Claudius prays he says “Of those effects for which I did the murder,/ My crown, mine own ambition and my queen.” (III, iii, 55-56) Gertrude herself is a motive for the murders, not exactly an innocent position to be in. While Gertrude had no control over this aspect of her physical and phycological attractiveness, it is hardly believable that she could not have dissuaded Claudius from commiting the murder. Had she completely refused to marry Claudius, then none of the later deaths would have happened. Hamlet would not have sunk into his depression and the ghost would not have been in such dire need of revenge. Hamlet might have even become king instead of Claudius, which was his birthright.
At Ophelia’s funeral, Gertrude says, “I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet’s wife”. She cared deeply for Ophelia, but did nothing to help her grow as a young woman. Ophelia had only the opinions of her father and brother, leaving no one to confide in. When Hamlet ultimately rejects her Ophelia is told it was her fault, causing her to loose her mind with guilt. Had she had someone to assure her that this was not so, or to boost her confidence then it is possible that she would not have lost her mind. Gertrude is the only other female character in the play; therefore this responsibility is left to her. However, she was too busy worrying about Claudius and not acting on Hamlet to do anything to help the young girl.
Due to Gertrude’s weak character, and her subsequent tendencies to simply follow other people’s instructions, the lives of many people were unnecessarily ended.