Gertrude Character Analysis

Hamlet’s mother, Claudius’s wife, and the Queen of Denmark. One of only two female characters in the play (along with Ophelia), Gertrude’s arc throughout the drama is perhaps most representative of the theme of women. Gertrude marries her brother-in-law, Claudius, very shortly after the death of her husband—an action perceived as cruel, obscene, lustful, and opportunistic by her son, Hamlet. In reality, this choice is one of the few options available to a woman of Gertrude’s time: a woman whose political safety and social standing is entirely dependent on her connection to and protection from a powerful man. Gertrude, then, is one of the play’s most complex characters, and one whose motives and truest nature are often obscured. For instance, when Hamlet confronts Gertrude about her choices, she admits that looking inward at her own choices—and considering the idea that her new husband murdered her old one—is too painful. Whether Gertrude is aware of Claudius’s murderous ambition on any level remains up for debate, but what is clear is that no matter how much she knows, she is willing to tamp it down in order to selfishly secure her own sociopolitical safety. Gertrude’s arc also ties in with the play’s theme of action and inaction—if, as the text overwhelmingly suggests, Gertrude knew that her husband was murdered by his brother and married Claudius anyway, then that choice is perhaps the play’s most profound example of how both action and inaction can have complex moral implications.