Free Shakespeare's Hamlet Essays: Gertrude and Hamlet

Gertrude and Hamlet

Hamlet's behavior is often explained using Freud's theory of sexual behavior; however the symptoms of bipolar disease explain Hamlet's behavior. Bipolar disease is defined as: "This disease causes symptoms like mood swings with periods of both depression and mania. They have consequent changes in thinking and behavior. Bipolar means the sharing of two poles, or high and low, having to do with mood."(2)

" Hamlet's behavior throughout the play was extremely physical, excessive talkativeness, destructiveness and sometimes grandiosity. These mood characteristics are the effects of bipolar disease." (1) Hamlet is extremely physical in his dealings with Ophelia and Gertrude. His excessive talkativeness is most evident in his soliloquies and his dialogue with his mother. His destructiveness is obvious in his conversation with the ghost; his grandiosity in his sarcasm towards Polonius. Incredibly, Bipolar disease describes Hamlet's behavior very accurately.

When Hamlet’s father was murdered by Claudius, difficulties arose between Hamlet and Gertrude to cope with one another. Hamlet got angry with his mother for remarrying Claudius, his father’s murderer, that he decides to be more rough towards her, simply to gain control over her.

When Hamlet grew up with his father and his mother, they grew up with a disorder known as Bipolar disease. "This is a disease where you think delusional, since it was inherited, passed on from parent to child, Gertrude’s marriage and Hamlet’s reaction to it, could have been the effects of this symptom. Hamlet’s father was "an enabler" who had made it possible for them to function, but now that his father is dead, they found it tough to cope with each other, as the family they once had."(1)

Hamlet became angry for a reason, which was to try to get attention from his mother. This attention came in a sexual form, as shown when he kissed her and when he groped her. With this new bond, he tried to gain further control over his mother, to try and abolish the marriage between her and Claudius. Two quotes to support this are: Queen: "Nay then, I’ll set those to you that can speak." (III;iv) Hamlet: "Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge." (III;iv)

This occurs when he tells Gertrude she can’t move, therefore he shows to the viewers he has power over what she says and does. If he cared, he would let her function as she wanted to, and he would support her decision.