My
paper is going to address Gertrude and her relationship to feminism. Specifically, how she degrades the role
of women through her extensive use of one liners (of her 68 lines, 44 of them
are one line of text) and how that reflects on her lack of complexity and
original thought. Also, she uses
prose (rather than iambic) in many of these one liners, and the ones that are
written in meter are generally broken.
Her response to one of Polonius’ lines is “more matter and less art” and
I have found that Gertrude employs little to no art in her thoughts…is that a
reflection on her incapacity to be artful or her concision? I want to explore why a lot of readers
(I have become aware of this in class discussion) view Gertrude as a heroic
shield to Hamlet, protecting him from the wrath of Claudius, etc. Since I don’t fully understand that
argument, if any of you commenters could let me know exactly what the gist of
it is, I’d really appreciate it.
As far as I can tell, Gertrude can be commended for shielding Hamlet
from Claudius’ wrath, but I don’t know where else to go with it.
I
wanted to talk about her death and how her first rejection of Claudius’
instructions (he tells her not to drink) results in her death…I know that isn’t
a coincidence. Is she just too
dependent on men to make good decisions?
Are all women that way? And
for the record, since someone must be thinking that I hate women, I don’t. I just think Shakespeare does.
Yep--definitely read this as misogynistic at first. =) Ophelia also speaks in one-liners and broken verse (she also reformulates questions). The reason some think that Gertrude protects Hamlet is because she promises him in the closet scene that she won't tell anyone that he is pretending to be mad (and she doesn't... the next time she sees Claudius she tells him that Hamlet is indeed insane). Her death is interesting because it takes a while for her to die (Polonius is killed in an instant), and we actually *see* her die slowly on stage. Her line "I am poisoned" is important because, as we discussed in class, should could be saying "my soul is poisoned" or "I have been poisoned." Or both. Either way, a line that begins with "I am" is strange coming from Gertrude--this is the only time in the play that we see her "be" anything. She does exercise some agency through narrating Ophelia's death: she claims, perhaps to ensure that Ophelia gets a Christian burial, that O's death was an accident (she "fell" into the brook). I'd also want to see how you interpret her sexuality. The Ghost claims that she is "lustful" and Hamlet claims that her sexual appetite (sullied flesh soliloquy) makes her disgusting. But in the closet scene she is, according to Hamlet, too old to be having sexual thoughts. How do we reconcile these two representations of her sexuality (both expressed by men)? And although she doesn't have very many times, she DOES appear on stage a lot. Why? Why is her presence necessary? Your paper doesn't have to advance a feminist argument--it could just explain what role Gertrude plays in the drama (interpreter? mediator?). If you go down this road, though, you will have to be specific: what does she interpret and why (as opposed to another character or event to interpret)? What *exactly* does she mediate and what are the results of this mediation? Oh, and one more thing: the "more matter and less art" line is interesting because it suggests that Gertrude understands how rhetoric is used to evade/elude, and she will use rhetoric herself when she narrates--publishes--Ophelia's death.
ReplyDeleteOh, and just ignore the typos--I'm trying to write these comments quickly!!
ReplyDeleteThis is excellent! Ed totally stole my ideas about the "poisoned" bit and Ophelia's death, except for one: If you scan all of Gertrude's other lines (doesn't take too long, I promise!) for meter, all the other times she uses "I" are unstressed. You could scan "I am poisoned" in a number of different ways, but the "I" is definitely stressed. How else might this emphasize that line? And how might the different ways of scanning "I am poisoned" have different implications, considering what words she stresses in terms of
ReplyDeleteI dig that you have a completely different take on Gertrude than I do... I think you took the gender differences in the play into consideration more than I have yet. I get the feeling that she has more agency than is revealed on the surface... I lean more towards the concision side than her "incapacity to be artful", for example. This stems heavily from the agency she implicitly has by being the storyteller, or as Ed put it, the interpreter, for Ophelia's death.
I dont get the argument of her as a shield at all... in fact, because of the hidden agency I see her having, I see her as a manipulator, as one who attempts to push the play in one direction or another. Check out the content of her one-liners, most of them are commands, or at least comments, on what the other characters are doing.
I don't have many questions/suggestions for you in the context of your argument, I feel it going in a direction of questioning who is in control in the play (in your case the men or the women). In that case, consider what agency she might have as interpreter, and how her interpretation of Ophelia's death could relate to her other interpretations throughout the play.
Ironically, considering the rest of her character's arc, I think Gertrude makes the biggest decision in the entire play - marrying Claudius. Also, this was a decision made (as far as we can tell) without any male input. It set in motion everything that happens in the play, although I guess this depends on whether you frame that as a result of her desire or Claudius' lust.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI really agree with you Taylor. I mean for me, there is a sense of frustration with Gertrude... she seems so passive, almost as though she is allowing Claudius to walk all over her (maybe even literally, if that's what they're in to). I think using the stressed/unstressed meter that Cecilia discusses in her comments, you could possibly even explore the idea of her being "in" on the murder of King Hamlet. The lack of stress on the "I" illustrates a lack of responsibility, possibly even loyalty, on her part. Perhaps she is ashamed of what she has done, and this shame is reflected in her speech.
ReplyDeleteI really like your development of ideas--I think they can definitely go somewhere. I think your claim about Shakespeare hating women is pretty provocative and interesting. I think you could actually use that somehow in your thesis, and use Gertrude as the main analysis. I thought Shakespeare definitely portrayed women negatively, but I didn't think he hated them. Maybe you could expand on them?
ReplyDeleteGertrude doesn't say anything that's dense with meaning, unlike most of the other characters in the play. Yet, she IS full of meaning. She is the opposite of Hamlet, even more so than Fortinbras. Hamlet is always asking questions, trying to find the answers and the meaning to his life. As you said, Gertrude is pretty shallow in the play. She is only concerned about what's on the surface, like her looks, and about herself. She loves it when things are going well but can't deal with negative energies, and consequently fails at taking care of Hamlet when he needs her most. She's not a very likable character, since she's "adulterous" and whiny. At the same time, you have to consider that she had no part in Claudius's plans to kill Hamlet. She's his loving mother, after all, and even Claudius knew that she would never let such things happen to her son. She's not a bad person, she's just dumb. I think your mini-claim about the "more matter with less art" and how that implies that she has no art in her language could be really good support.
Don't forget to discuss her dishonesty--not only to others, but also to herself. She's always denying that her actions could ever hurt the people around her. What's ironic is that the only reason she does lie is to protect them. Unlike Claudius's lies, her lies aren't based on evil deeds and secrets. Even though they don't really work, what's important is her heart behind them.
Close read this part of the play:
O Hamlet, speak no more:
Thou turn'st my very eyes into my soul,
And there I see such black and grained spots
As will not leave their tinct (III.iv.88-91)
...O speak to me no more;
these words like daggars enter my ears;
No more, sweet Hamlet! (III.iv.94-6)
I agree that it seems like Shakespeare hates women, too. Another thing to think about - she is acting on her own accord and NOT obeying her man when she drinks. Then, she dies. Could this be some sort of warning for women to listen to their husbands, and if they don't then it will ultimately lead to their death? Ugh. Oh, Will...
ReplyDeleteI don't believe that you're the mysognist in this case, but I don't think that Gertrude is only bad. I think her response to Polonious' diatribe in the act you refer to merely shows that she is more about substance and less about art. Perhaps that is the exact reason she does not speak in longwinded solioquies and speeches, because she does not intend to amaze with her rhetoric, but simply speak the truth, which she does.
ReplyDeleteAnd while I know I"m impartial to Gertrude, your claim relating to feminism does have matter, but can we truly ignore that Gertrude protects her son so lovingly? She may be insignificant, but why is she placed only in this role?