This week in English class, we have been discussing one of Shakespeare's works Hamlet. As I am sitting in class learning about the death of Hamlet's father, something stood out to me that seemed a little weird. Claudius, the new king of Denmark and the brother of the former king, is going to marry his brother's widow Gertrude. Mind you that it has only been a month since Gertrude's former husband passed away, and she seems fine with the fact of marrying Claudius and showing no sign of mourning for her late husband. Now does this seem fishy to anyone else or is it just me? How could Gertrude not mourn for her own late husband and then decide to remarry?! It is not only wrong that Claudius is marrying Gertrude, but it is seen as a sin back in Shakespeare's time.This is considered incest, which is a pretty big deal back in that time and in our time period now. **Note from Ms. Whitley. It is only seen as a sin or as incest by Hamlet. This would actually have been perfectly acceptable at this time. In fact, in Deuteronomy 29:9, the bible directs a man to marry his brother's wife is she becomes a widow.
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"Something Smells Fishy"
Hamlet, however, shows that he is mourning for the loss of his father and cannot believe how Claudius and his mother are reacting. Gertrude tells Hamlet to cut out his moody behavior and to ditch his black attire for clothing that shows to be more cheerful. She tells Hamlet that everyone dies and we have to get over it. Well I do not know about anyone else, but if a family member of mine had passed away, I would be in the same mourning stage as Hamlet. I do not know anyone who could not feel a bit of sadness for a death that has occurred, let alone the death of one's parents.
I agree Melanie!! It is hard to imagine how Claudius and Gertrude are behaving!!! This makes it so much harder on Hamlet. He is not only mourning his father's death but also has to deal with his mother being married to his uncle.
ReplyDeleteIt is very fishy! I question wether or not Gertrude knew that her ex-husbands brother killed him to take the crown and marry her. Like were they having an affair? They had to have planned this in order for them to be so calm about his death and getting married so suddenly. I feel bad for Hamlet because he seems to be the only one bothered by all of this. He's going through this all alone and it's just so sad.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Melanie! The concept of a woman marrying her brother-in-law within less than two months after her husband's death is verryyy suspicious or fishy like you said! I was just thinking about maybe if there is a connection between Gertrude's behavior and the female archetype: a woman cannot control her "passion" or "lust/ sexual desires". What if Gertrude was supposed to be the stereotypical medieval woman who is so lustful that she has to marry another man less than 2 months after her husband's death to fulfill her sexual desires? It reminds me of the Wife of Bath who chooses to remarry so that her sexual relations won't be considered impious.
ReplyDeleteThis kind of makes me thinking about what we talked about today in class about "playing roles". What if Gertrude is just playing "strong" so she won't be seen as a weak woman? Although there is no exact evidence from the text that she is hiding her feelings, many of the characters seem to be acting like they're something they're not, so I wouldn't be surprised if she did the same.
ReplyDeleteKeep this in mind as you finish Act III this weekend. We certainly get to know her a little better at this point in the play.
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