Gertrude AO5

Question 1

1500-1600’s trend

Answer 1

shallow and driven by lust

Question 2

Romantic trend

Answer 2

driven by strong emotions

Question 3

T.S Eliot (Victorian)

Answer 3

‘too negative and insignificant’

Question 4

Psychoanalyst trend

Answer 4

the object of Hamlet’s repressed desires

Question 5

Helibrun (Feminist)

Answer 5

sees her as pragmatic and intelligent, surviving the patriarchal world

Question 6

Wyman (feminist)

Answer 6

a ‘self-sacrificing mother’

Question 7

A.C Bradley (early 20th C)

Answer 7

‘sheep in the sun’ (pleasure-seeking) but with a ‘soft animal nature’

Question 8

Daniels’ Hamlet (late 20th C production)

Answer 8

Gertrude and Hamlet = representatives of the Romantic old world of previous court, in comparison to the insensitive court of Claudius

Question 9

Richardson’s film (late 20th C)

Answer 9

presents her as glutenous

Question 10

Olivier’s film (late 20th C)

Answer 10

Olivier (Hamlet) = 40, whilst Herlie (Gertrude) = 29

introduces bed in closet scene - Oedipal relationship

Question 11

Zefirelli’s production (late 20th C)

Answer 11

Gertrude as innocent and naive

• unable to understand Machiavellian evil around her

Question 12

Mobillard (21st C)

Answer 12

her ‘sexuality … turns Hamlet so violently against her’

Question 13

Smith (late 20th C)

Answer 13

‘merely a quiet, biddable, careful mother and wife’ - main interest is pleasing men

Question 14

Baker (early 20th C)

Answer 14

‘clings to her youth’, acting like a lovestruck teenager

Question 15

Gunns (21st C)

Answer 15

‘her power wanes as she attempts to fulfil the desires of both her husband and son’

Question 16

Harold Bloom (21st C)

Answer 16

‘connubial bliss of Gertrude and Claudius’
suggests importance on H’s revulsion

Question 17

Smith (late 20th C)

Answer 17

‘soft, obedient, dependent, unimaginative woman’

Question 18

Grienvelle-Baker (early 20th C)

Answer 18

‘she moved throughout in Claudius’s shadow’