Shakespeares Hamlet and Gertrude: Love or Hate? :: Shakespeare Hamlet Essays

Hamlet and Gertrude Love or Hate       Imagine it, while away at college you get word word that your beloved fatherwho had seemed in good health only a short while ago has died leaving yourmother and yourself. This situation would be enough to bring great depression toeven the strongest of souls but for Hamlet, the fictional prince of Denmark inShakespeares play of the same name, this is not his imagination but cruelreality.  not only has his father passed but, as if to mock the very memory ofthe former king, Gertrude, Hamlets mother and queen, has married again withintwo months. This shock is further compound by the fact the her new husband isnone other than her former brother-in-law, Claudius.         Unable to return to the university due to his over whelming despair,Hamlet is trapped by his love parents and not allowed to leave Denmark untilcertified well. It is at this time he receives word from his friend Horatio t hatthe spirit of his father has returned and walks the night. During theElizabethan period of English literature, man and record were thought to belinked as part of a great chain of being. To Hamlet, the fact that his fatherhad returned showed that this chain had been disrupted by nigh evil in the worldof man. That he had returned as a ghost could mean only one thing, his death wasnot an accident. The ghost beseeches Hamlet to penalise him but warns him, taintnot thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive against thy mother aught . . . leave herto heaven.         This statement by the ghost was left gift enough for Hamlet to developmany questions about his mothers actual involvement in his fathers death. Atfirst, Hamlets rage is confined to his uncle Claudius but quickly and violentlyshifts towards his mother, hearthstone upon the horrible thought that she mighthave been involved. Oh most pernicious women He screams, O villain, villain,smiling, damned v illain Hamlet speaks as though he has temporarily forgottenhis promise to his father and has become amuck with anger. The insanity throughanger is a reoccurring motif throughout the play. After Hamlet has simmered downto the transmit where he is again lucid, he vows to his friend Horatio that he willtake revenge upon Claudius, and he will do so by acting insane until the time isright.         Its clear by what the ghost has said that Claudius is guilty of murder,but what  about Gertrude? She clearly disgusts Hamlet due to her hasty marriage.