Gertrude Act 3

Hamlet: Gertrude Act 3

Introduction:

Hamlet has prepared a play and the person playing the Queen is speaking about the death of her husband.

Passage: (3.2.180-183)

Player Queen: “The instances that second marriage move

Are base respects of thrift, but none of love:

A second time I kill my husband dead,

When second husband kisses me in bed”.

Analysis:

In this paragraph, Hamlet gives his interpretation of who he thinks his mother is. He organizes this play and tells the actors exactly what he wants them to say and do. In this scene his mother, the queen,  is portrayed as someone who does not truly care for the love of her first husband and instead focuses on “when [her] second husband kisses [her] in bed”. The point that Hamlet is trying to get across is to show how selfish and horrible he thinks his mother is by showing her how quickly she moved on from someone who she supposedly loved.

Introduction:

Hamlet has just left the opportunity to kill Claudius and is now running to go speak with his mother. meanwhile Polonius hides behind curtains to eaves-drop.

Passage: (3.4.9-19)

Hamlet: Now, mother, what’s the matter?

Queen: Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.

Hamlet: Mother, you have my father much offended.

Queen: Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.

Hamlet:Go, go you question with a wicked tongue.

Queen: Why, how now, Hamlet!

Hamlet: What’s the matter now?

Queen: Have you forget me?

Hamlet: No, by the rood, not so: You are the queen, your husband’s brother’s wife; And -- would it were not so!-- you are my mother.

Analysis:

This is one of the first times Hamlet and his mother have had a conversation since Hamlet’s father’s death. From the beginning it is clear that Hamlet shows resentment and anger towards his mother due to her actions. They both are still grieving as they both say “thou hast thy father much offended”; however Hamlet feels that his mother is not grieving in a proper way. Finally Gertrude asks is Hamlet has forgotten her to which he eventually replied with “would it were not so! --you are my mother” essentially saying he wishes she was not his mother. This is a clear indication to the lack of communication between the two and how both have their own ways of life but refuse to explain it to the other.

Introduction:

Hamlet has just killed Polonius accidentally, thinking it was his uncle, the king. Hamlet and his mother are in an intense conversation about her relationship with her deceased husband’s brother.

Passage: (3.4.97-114)

Queen: O Hamlet, speak no more:

Thou turn’st mine eyes into my very soul,

And there I see such black and grained spots

As will not leave their tinct.

Hamlet: Nay, but to live

In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,

Stew’d in corruption, honeying and making love

Over the nasty sty--

Queen: O, speak to me no more;

These words like daggers enter in my ears;

No more, sweet Hamlet!

Analysis:

At this point in the exchange between Hamlet and his mother, things are starting to get heated. Hamlet has pointed out the numerous flaws of his mother’s lifestyle to which she responds with “into my very soul, And there I see such black and grained spots” acknowledging that she herself knows that she has done things she shouldn’t have. However, even after this realization, Hamlet is not done criticising her and continues tell her she is “Stew’d in corruption, honeying and making love” with essentially the one person she should hate the most. He continues to plead with her but she, almost as if too weak, only responds with “No more, sweet Hamlet!” as if too weak to say anything back to him.

Introduction:

After Hamlet and his mother get into an argument, the ghost of old hamlet appears however the only one who can see the ghost is Hamlet.

Passage: (3.4. 139) and (3.4. 145-155)

Hamlet: On him, on him! Look you how pale he glares!

Queen: To whom do you speak this?

Hamlet: Do you see nothing there?

Queen: Nothing at all; yet all that is I see.

Hamlet: Nor did you nothing hear?

Queen: No, nothing but ourselves

Hamlet: Why, look you there! look, how it steals away!

My father, in his habit as he liv’d!

Look, where he goes, even, now, out at the portal!

[Exit Ghost.

Queen: This is the very coinage of your brain:

This bodiless creation ecstasy

Is very cunning in.

Analysis:

In this exchange Hamlet is able to view his deceased father while his mother physically unable. This is a perfect example of the key difference that is standing between Hamlet and his mother. The death of the father has done more damage to their relationship than the two realize. While the physical loss of a father and husband figure is difficult; the grieving process, lack of communication, and moving forward from from the death is something Hamlet and his mother have yet to come to terms with. At this point the two could forget the past and begin to heal together while Hamlet is showing his vulnerable side; instead Gertrude simply concludes that Hamlet is showing the “creation ecstasy” meaning he is going mad as she says earlier.

The actress I would pick to play Gertrude would be Amanda Seyfried. Gertrude is a timid woman who is over dramatic, easily manipulated, and constantly attempting to please everyone. She rarely if ever stands up to Hamlet or her current husband. This reminds me of Amanda Seyfried in the role of Karen in Mean Girls. In this film, Karen is a part of the popular clique who rarely says anything against the group and goes along with whatever she is told. She contributes little to the conversation and is very easily manipulated to do the will of anyone in the group; just as Gertrude.