Shakespeares Hamlet - Comparing Ophelia and Gertrude :: comparison compare contrast essays

Hamlet Ophelia and Gertrude Ophelia and Gertrude. Two different women who seem to be trapped in the corresponding circumstances in relation to Hamlet. Gertrude, Hamlets mother and the queen of Denmark. She is married tothe present King, Claudius, who is suspected by Hamlet to have turn thumbs downed his father, King Hamlet, who also happens to be Claudiuss brother. Gerturde has somewayended up in the plot of King Hamlets death and in the eyes of her son, seems tobe a monster and an aide to an adulterating deed. Ophelia, the daughter of Polonius who is the Kings believe councilorand is later killed in the coquette and he forbids his daughter to see Hamletbecause of the possibility that he beseech her name and her virginity. She trulyloves Hamlet and is devastated when he shuns her and pretends to be mad. Hamlets treatment towards these two women shapes and brings life totheir characters and eventually bring s an end to their characters as well. Gertrude is a kind and loving mothe r. The kind that guards after her sonthrough and through thick and through thin and loves unconditionally. Hamlet had suspectedher of aiding in the killing of King Hamlet. That will be discussed later. Her character is the one character in the play that I believe does notdevelop but rather stays identical to the scene in which she is introduced(Act I,scene II). She is shown to be a quiet, stand by your man type individual whois easily influenced. This is my belief because in the second scene of the play, Hamlet isshown to be crushed by his mothers hasty remarriage. If marriage at bottom thefamily was common in the days of Shakespeare, then this is understandable, but,in any other case, this would be considered an act of betrayal that wasobviously brought on by some impertinent pressure, probably from Claudius. There is, however, a slight change in her personality that is not quitenoticeable. At the end of the play, the King and Laertes(Poloniuss son) haveplotted to kill Hamlet for reasons that are irrelevant to my point. One part ofthe plot was to have Hamlet drink out of a poisoned cup. It so happens that, insome confusion, the Queen ends up with the cup in her hand. Even after theKings warnings not to drink from the cup(she is unaware of the plot), she does.She does in complete defiance of her husbands wishes. I have interpreted thisin this way because of the line the Queen speaks before she drinks from the cup.