Queen Gertrude In Shakespeare's Hamlet

The lives and deaths of all major characters in Shakespeare’s Hamlet are dramatic. They’re filled with love, loss, and ultimately an overdramatized death in a plot that all links back to one idea of revenge. There is one major character, however, who does not seem to fit this Shakespearean archetype- Queen Gertrude. Her role in the play is often minimized, reduced only to be seen in terms of her incestuous affair and the effect it had on the major male characters of the book. Of the two female characters, Ophelia and Gertrude, Gertrude is viewed as especially weak due to her seeming lack of ability to stand up for herself or seek justice for the murder of her first husband Hamlet. However, by drinking the poisoned wine, she is able to carefully
exact her revenge by catching Claudius in a moment where she knew he’d have to choose to either kill her or break down the thinly veiled facade that hid his true intentions as King, thus making her a truly powerful character. Gertrude is characterized throughout the play by her lack of strength or willingness to stand up for herself.
One can find that, looking at all the lines she has in the play, they are often simply affirmations to what men have said or ordered her to do. One can see, for example, that as Claudius and Polonius were plotting to find Hamlet’s love for Ophelia, that when Claudius asks Gertrude to leave, she simply says “I shall obey you” (Shakespeare 3.1.1725). Additionally, one can see the powerlessness portrayed within Gertrude when Hamlet begins to berate her in her bedroom, attacking her physically and verbally. Throughout this scene, much of what Gertrude says is simply “O Hamlet, speak no more”, but her pleas work to no avail, this giving her a connotation of being weak as she cannot even assert her dominance over her own son (Shakespeare 3.4.2481). However, this powerlessness falls in stark contrast to the Gertrude portrayed in her dying scene. As King Claudius demands that she not drink the wine, Gertrude poignantly and forcibly says “I will, my lord”, a subtle shift in speech that represents Gertrude’s assertion of power over her husband in her final moments (Shakespeare 5.2.277). Although there is intense disagreement on whether or not Gertrude knew that the wine was poisoned as she drank it, this change in the characterization of Gertrude’s speech provides evidence that she did, in fact, know it was poisoned. Had she not known, it is likely that, based on her speech
patterns throughout the play, she would have simply abided by her husband’s wishes. If one assumes that Gertrude did know that the wine was poisoned as she drank it, this leads the reader to believe that in this act of defiance, she was enacting revenge against her husband.
Gertrude is victimized throughout the novel for having married Claudius soon after he murdered her late husband. However, considering the idea that throughout the book Gertrude rarely stood up for herself, it may be assumed that Gertrude truly had other feelings towards Claudius but did not defy him for fear of his retribution. After the death of Ophelia, Gertrude describes her suicide to Laertes. However, in contrast to how others antagonize Ophelia for her suicide, Gertrude seems to describe it lightly and kindly, describing Ophelia in the water as “a creature native and indued unto that element” (Shakespeare 4.7.177). By implying that Ophelia appeared to be native to the water in which she killed herself, one can infer that Gertrude recognizes the underlying revenge that triggered Ophelia’s suicide and appreciates it. If the water can be seen as a metaphor for the revenge upon which Ophelia acted, Gertrude describes how it appeared that she belonged there, likely inspiring Gertrude to exact her revenge in a similar way. By looking at the way in which Gertrude died, one can assume that she planned it in a manner which would clearly put her husband in a position where he would have to choose between her or his own plans. By deciding in the specific moment during which much of the
castle was present, Gertrude was able to drink the wine and, if Claudius were to have tried to stop her by telling her it was poison, he would have been accused of treason. Thus, based on the ways in which Claudius is characterized in Hamlet, a vicious, Machiavellian ruler who will kill to gain power, it is likely that Gertrude knew that Claudius would not reveal his true intentions for the poison in order to save her. She is correct, as he simply says “Gertrude, do not drink” (Shakespeare 7.2.276). As Gertrude drinks the poison, she is enacting her revenge and asserting power and dominance over her husband for the first time in the play. Therefore, even though throughout the play Gertrude is little more than a wife who acts in subordination to her husband’s wishes, her final act is an emphatic statement of power which contrasts ironically with the idea that throughout the plot she was simply viewed as an accessory to her husband. Looking at Gertrude’s final scene, one can assume that Gertrude was always capable of making these independent actions. In her final moments, she acts with grace and confidence, not fearing retribution from her husband and assuredly drinking the poison in order to enact revenge on the husband who took her voice for much of the play. Thus, it is likely that throughout the play, Gertrude is simply waiting for the right time in order to complete her final act of defiance and revenge. When Gertrude finds herself in the situation where she can drink the poison, she knows that no matter if Claudius tries to stop her or not, he will be accused of treason, whether it be before or after her death. Therefore, Gertrude is not only a powerful character capable of independent thoughts and actions but also one cunning enough to do so in a manner in which she is sure to be successful.