Gertrude: The Tragic Heroine of Shakespeares Hamlet Essay example -- G

Gertrude The Tragic Heroine of Hamlet Hamlet is perhaps English literatures most storied play a masterwork by the greatest of all masters, Shakespeare, from its very appearance Hamlet has not ceased to delight audiences and confound spectators. The complexity of the main character, prince Hamlet, is so great that all who have attempted to decipher his character fulsomely have failed. Amidst his own grandeur, Hamlet makes the some other characters pale. As they blur into literary oblivion overdue to the magnetism of the central character, other characters are often disregarded as one-dimensional and are not done sufficient justice. Gertrude, victim of Hamlets virulent oral abuse, is often seen through the bitter eyes of her son and thus her align character is seldom recognized. However, Shakespeare, incapable of mediocrity, instilled in Gertrude more complexity than simple abstract might yield. He bestowed her the appearance of an unscrupulous woman, one for whom shame is a st ranger and who acts guided solely by her carnal desires furthermore, she gives signs of being a frivolous queen, one who occupies her mind in simple contemplations, and for whom profound matters are inaccessible. Finally, he made her seem an insensitive mother incapable of empathy for her sons grief and oblivious to true sensibility. Nonetheless, it is Gertrudes desire for reconcilement and her need to avoid conflict that make her appear an unscrupulous woman, a frivolous Queen and an insensitive mother. Certainly the most widespread horizon regarding Gertrude is that she is an unscrupulous woman however, it is her desire for reconcilement and her need to avoid conflict that make her appear unscrupulous. With all the force of his first soliloquy... ... tragic flaw was no other than the innocent desire for reconcilement and her too human need to avoid conflict. In Hamlets own words, this seems the very essence of veracity, what a piece of work is man how courtly in reason, how in finite in faculties and yet, how solitary and uncomprehended how quick to condemn, how reluctant to forgive and in doing so how like a Greek God, and how, so attractively and fallibly human. Bibliography 1. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Folger Library. Edited by Louis B. Wright and Virginia A. LaMar Washington, Washington Square Press Publication, 1958. 2. Gertrude in Hamlet http//academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/critical.htmlmichelle_g Date accessed 02/25/2003) 3. Mabillard, Amanda. Shakespeares Gertrude. Shakespeare Online. 2000. http//www.shakespeare-online.com/gertrudechar.html (03/25/2003)