Gertrude; Character profile Flashcards
(10 cards)
How is Gertrude spoken about in 1.2?
‘Frailty thy name is woman’
‘A beast that wants discourse of reason/would have mourned longer’
‘most unrighteous tears’
‘most wicked speed! To post/ with such dexterity to incestuous sheets!’
What context may have influenced Gertrude?
MQoS, like Gertrude, failed to observe a proper mourning period for her husband and married the man many thought had killed him.
What is the purpose of ‘the closet scene?’
This scene takes place in Gertrudes closet representing Hamlet invading her private world and exposing her
What techniques and quotations are used in the closet scene?
‘Gertrude: Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended//Hamlet: Mother, thou hast my father much offended’
Stichomythia
It conveys how Hamlet is unwilling to accept his mother’s authority, and it is clear from the scene’s opening that Hamlet will defiantly challenge Gertrude.
‘You go not till I set up a glass/Where you may see the inmost part of you? ’
He will force her to ‘see’ her true self and her inner corruption.
What critic references Gertrude as immoral?
‘Gertrude is a moral defective’ (Muir)
What quotations reinforce Gertrude’s corruption?
‘Speak no more/These words like daggers enter into my ears’
‘The rank sweat of an eseamed bed’
Contrasting presentation of the queen to the king;
King- ‘Hyperion curls’ compared to ‘rank sweat’
What is the significance of Gertrude’s toast to Hamlet in the final scene?
Gertrude defies Claudius, confessional language showing her shift from ‘loathsome sinner’ to ‘maiden saint’
What critic relates to both Gertrude and Ophelia?
Women are either innocent maiden saints or loathsome sinners…’ (McGrory)
What critic references Hamlet’s treatment of women?
‘Hamlet’s disgust at the feminine passivity in himself is translated into violent revulsion against women.’
(Swinbourne)
