Thomas Hardy was a famous author and poet he lived from 1840 to 1928. During his long life of 88 years he wrote fifteen novels and one thousand poems. He lived for the majority of his life near Dorchester. Hardy got many ideas for his stories while he was growing up. An example of this was that he knew of a lady who had had her blood turned by a convict’s corpse and he used this in the story ‘The Withered Arm’. The existence of witches and witchcraft was accepted in his lifetime and it was not unusual for several people to be killed for crimes of witchcraft every year.
In the story of ‘The Withered Arm’, there are four main characters: Rhoda who is a milkmaid, Gertrude who is Farmer Lodge’s new wife, Farmer Lodge who owns the farmhouse and the Son whose parents are Rhoda and Farmer Lodge. At the beginning of the story Rhoda becomes pregnant and soon after splits up with Farmer Lodge. She is outcast because people think she is a witch. The story then moves on eight years and Farmer Lodge brings back his new wife Gertrude Lodge. Rhoda is jealous of her and sends her son who is now eight to go and look at her. A few weeks later Rhoda has a vision in her sleep and curses Gertrude. The next day Gertrude and Rhoda meet for the first time and Rhoda finds that she has a withered arm, which she didn’t before. Over time, they both become friends and Gertrude asks Rhoda if she will come with her to see Conjuror Trendle as he is thought to be the only person who can help cure her withered arm. Conjuror Trendle does not do this but he does tell her that Rhoda has cursed her.
Over the winter rumours start to spread and people think that Rhoda has bewitched Gertrude. Because of these rumours both her and her son run away. About 6 years later Gertrude finds out about the affair between Rhoda and her husband. Gertrude returns to visit Conjuror Trendle once more as she thinks Farmer Lodge does not love her any more.
This time he suggests that she Touches the neck of a recently hung man with her arm as this may cure it. Months later Gertrude goes to Casterbridge but it is too late and so she has to wait for the next hanging, which is not for several months.
Shakespeare’s sinful woman in the tragedy Hamlet is named Gertrude. Wife of Claudius and mother of the prince, she is not selected by the ghost for vengeance by the protagonist. Let’s consider her story in this essay.
...seems to have endured the most in his life. Not only did he spend his youth caring for his sick mother and then wife, but he now must live in the painful memory of how his life could have been if the accident never happened. The end of the book leaves the readers saddened and frustrated. Though the novella began with a plotline seemingly leading to an ending as cheery as that of Snow White, in the end, this beautiful maiden turned sour. In this storybook tragedy, “the lovers do not live happily ever after. The witch wins” (Ammons 1).
These questions prove that Gertrude is much more complex than the reader thinks initially. However, her character in the play is an enigma, shallow in depth. Gertrude seems to put on a facade of ignorance. She must protect her own interests.
First of all, it is illegal to re-marry during the year following, a widow must mourn the loss of their husband for a year. Having been a widow for just over a month Gertrude is already engaged in a relationship with . Claudius, Hamlet’s Uncle and King Hamlet’s brother. This is inacceptable according to Hhamlet and his religion. It was incest and they didn’t even wait a bit before getting together. Consequently, while Hamlet kept increasing his anger, so did his desire for revenge against his father’s murder and the initiative tot really mad and mad him wants to kill Claudius even more and made him speak with his mother in hopes of talking in order to get some sense into her. Gertrude but she refuses to understand a word of what he said when he spoke of
Analysis: Gertrude is playing the common role of a caring mother. She wants her boy to win and do well so she comes out
On a drive on Highway 50, through Nevada to see a real ghost town, Agnes finds a little girl named Rebecca who has been separated by her family who was looking Leister 's gold. The capper of the whole thing is that Agnes saw the whole thing in a dream, but she gets to the Goldberg Hotel and Saloon, she realizes the whole thing was real, especially the inside of her room. She soon finds out that the entire hotel is haunted by all kinds of spirits from past guests; which only serves to make Agnes 's vacation that much more interesting. She wants to find out what happened to the family. She knows with every fiber of her being that it was not just a dream, and that a little girl really did go missing in the night before Agnes showed up. Will they be able to find the missing kid or will a killer (called “The Cutter”) ruin their
In “Hamlet,” Shakespeare commendably conveys a, if you will, a “love story” between the major characters in the play. Hamlet, Gertrude and Claudius are the individuals he writes about. In this story, Gertrude must choose between her son, a loyal, sincere male figure in her life that has always supported and loved her, or a man who can offer her power and fulfill her dependency trait, which one may say is what she has always strived to attain. Gertrude’s inability to see the bigger picture of King Claudius’ deceit and ill morals is what makes Gertrude a weak and submissive character. While Gertrude means no harm, her poor judgment contributes significantly to the rotten events that occur throughout the play. The choices Gertrude does make ultimately leads to her death and the downfall of the ones she loves as well.
In conclusion, Hamlet and Gertrude's relationship change from strained to disrespectful and mistrustful and end in a bittersweet manner. In the beginning, Hamlet is bitter at her mother for her betrayal to the late King Hamlet. The need for Gertrude to send spies to find out her son's mentally shows further strain in the relationship. In act III scene iv, he shows Gertrude disrespect by threatening her and insulting her. On the mother's part, she mistrusts her son and thinks he's treacherous and insane. Finally, in act V scene v, the mother realizes that her son is right all along and calls out to him with love before she dies. Unfortunately, throughout the loops and turns, the sweet moment does not last as both fall to death.
The position of Gertrude’s character in the play raises numerous questions about her involvement with her former husband’s murder, along with her reasoning for marrying Claudius. Failing to question Claudius’ intentions with her son, Hamlet, Gertrude includes herself in the corruption. She is present at various meetings discussing her son’s whereabouts and plots to spy on him (83). Though she is conscious of the corruption in the court, she does not seek to resolve the matters. But rather, she involves herself in the conflict and schemes. Claudius’ ways definitely influence her judgment, which is seen when she allows Polonius to spy on her private conversation with Hamlet (169). Furthermore, when confronted by Hamlet, she admits, “Thou turn’st mine eyes into my very soul, And there I see such black and grainèd spots, As will not leave their tinct” (175). Her response to Hamlet’s raging interrogative and accusatory speech insinuates that she too has in some fashion contributed to the corruption in Denmark, though the specific circumstance is never revealed. Shakespeare’s portrayal of Gertrude shows a woman who is more concerned about self-preservation and remaining in power so much so that she involves herself with the plots of a man, who murdered her
Gertrude has an obsessive need to keep her crown, and remain Queen of Denmark despite potentially sacrificing her relations with the ones who love her- but more specifically, her son. This desire, although unaware, heavily contributes to the plotted madness of Hamlet, and supports the theory of being a self-centred, and a weak individual. Within two months of her husband’s organized death, Queen Gertrude remarries to King Hamlet’s brother, Claudius. With very likely chances of Gertrude being a lover to Claudius while married to King Hamlet, she would have been certainly convinced to be a part of the plot of his murder- and therefore playing the role of a cold villainess. The ghost of Hamlet informs his son of what has taken place, and assigns him to “Revenge [their] foul and most unnatural murder... that
... feelings and marries Claudius which really hurts Hamlet. Gertrude as a wife and mother, hurts the people most loved, her family.
Compared to Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Almereyda’s adaptation creates a new reading and highlights various elements more directly through a change in the characterization of Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother. The movie advances her position as a woman, making her a commanding and prominent figure throughout. This new reading of Gertrude from the movie reflects the changes in societal views regarding women, due to varying time periods, progressing the position of Gertrude as a woman, and exploiting ideas of incest, misogyny, and
...e other movies. She takes every opportunity to kiss Hamlet fully on the mouth, sometimes even lingering on the lips. It is almost as if Hamlet?s Oedipal cravings is a given in this movie. At one time Hamlet is even thrusting his lions against Gertrude that suggest a signifier of sexual intercourse. When the ghost appears it is as if it is just in time to stop Hamlet and Gertrude from having full-fledged intercourse. Gertrude does not seem to mind this at all in the way she caresses Hamlet unquestionably more representative of the display of affection one associates with a lover than a mother.
Gertrude and Polonius enter the scene after the play is done with. Gertrude has called Hamlet over to confront him about the play he put on. Polonius was going to hide around a curtain in order to listen to their conversation. Gertrude tries to convince her son that what he did was despicable. At this point, she still has no idea about Hamlet 's
Hardy originated from a working class family. The son of a master mason, Hardy was slightly above that of his agricultural peers. Hardy’s examination of transition between classes is usually similar to that of D.H. Lawrence, that if you step outside your circle you will die. The ambitious lives of the characters within Hardy’s novels like Jude and Tess usually end fatally; as they attempt to break away from the constraints of their class, thus, depicting Hardy’s view upon the transition between classes. Hardy valued lower class morals and traditions, it is apparent through reading Tess that her struggles are evidently permeated through the social sufferings of the working class. A central theme running throughout Hardy’s novels is the decline of old families. It is said Hardy himself traced the Dorset Hardy’s lineage and found once they were of great i...