Gertrude Hamlet Analysis

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The Damage caused by Gertrude
Shakespeare repeatedly tackles sexuality within The Tragedy of Hamlet. Sexuality is important when establishing the reasons for Hamlet’s desires, mood swings, and his constant struggle with gender identity because sexuality is in the center of it all. For example, highlighted in act 3.4 Hamlet argues with his mother, Gertrude, over the content of the performance that Hamlet directed. Hamlet outright accuses his mother of being a whore and of being deceitful for marry her husband’s brother. However, Hamlet’s angry is much more deeply rooted because his acting out against Gertrude is not simply because of her betrayal and incest-like sexual desires, it is more or so because now he has to question himself and his …show more content…

Through analyzing Hamlet’s word choice, imagery, and tone it will be proven that his desexualiztion of his mother is the reason why he cannot love but only lust over Ophelia.
Marrying Claudius, the king’s brother, is in fact the most treacherous sin in Hamlet’s eyes. This sin “makes marriage vows as false as dicers ' oaths,” and by the way these words are written it could be assumed that his tone expresses distrust of the words of gamblers (scene 3.4). Hamlet desexualizes his mother as a way to in turn desexualize all women and make him sexually invulnerable to pain, regret, and unfaithfulness that is presumably caused by all women. Inevitable Hamlet suppresses his sexual desires for Ophelia because there is no reason to trust women when Gertude had easily broken her vows to her husband as easily as she said …show more content…

So Gertrude sleeping with Hamlet’s uncle makes her a hypocrite, and ironically it also raises hypocrisy in Ophelia’s actions by choosing to sleep with Hamlet before she is fully courted. However, these women are not the only character that displays the actions of a hypocrite because so does Hamlet. Hamlet chooses to suppress his emotional feelings for Ophelia by choosing only to have sex with her, and also to shame his mother for her own sexual desires. The blame game is what allows Hamlet to shift the blame, thus allowing him to display his perversion and disgust towards Ophelia and Gertrude while making himself look as if he is a saint, and without guilt. Hamlet’s sexual desires are unique in that they ironic so he can pursue Ophelia with perverse approaches but then lecture her for not being chaste. However these are when gender roles come involved because why is it that Hamlet can place blame on his mom and Ophelia, deflecting from his own sexual emotions and not feel shame. It’s as if men can go on not being chaste without judgment, and are free to explore and live out their sexual desires without ridicule but when a women does it their ciaos. I believe these questionable gender roles are what sparks the conversation about

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