Gertrude and Helen: Wantonness in the Trojan War and Shakespeares Hamlet :: Shakespeare Hamlet

Gertrude and Helen Wantonness in the Trojan War and Hamlet Hamlet is the melancholy Dane Claudius, the smiling villain. Polonius is the oily courtier Horatio, the loyal friend. Most of the dispositions in Hamlet atomic number 18 well defined and unambiguous the character of Gertrude, however, presents us with many ambiguities and difficulties. Some critics see her as well-meaning but shallow and feminine, in the pejorative awareness of the word incapable of any sustained rational process, superficial and flighty (Heilbrun 10), while others see her as a stronger character, cool and calculating. The play presents many aspects of Gertrudes character ambiguously. Janet Adelman writes, Given her centrality in the play, it is striking how little we know about Gertrude even the extent of her involvement in the murder of her first husband is left unclear....The spot accuses her at least indirectly of adultery and incest...but he never accuses her of nor exonerates her from the murder. For the ghost, as for Hamlet, her chief crime is her uncontrolled sexuality that is the object of their moral repulsion, a revulsion as intense as anything directed toward the murderer Claudius. But the Gertrude we see is not quite the Gertrude they see. And when we see her in herself, apart from their characterizations of her, we tend to see a woman more muddled than actively wicked even her famous sensuality is less apparent than her conflicted solicitude both for her new husband and for her son....Even her demise is not quite her own to define. Is it a suicide designed to keep Hamlet from danger by dying in his place?...Muddled, fallible, fully human, she seems eventually to make the choice that Hamlet would have her make. But even here she does not speak clearly her character remains relatively closed to us (Adelman 15-16). In spite of the many ambiguities of Gertrudes character, one of her chief characteristics is wantonness, and like Helen of Troy, Gertrudes wantonness le d to tragedy. Wantonness-a word that is little in use nowadays-suggests three characteristics luxuriously right-down extravagance, lack of discipline, and lustfulness. The treatment of Gertrudes character in Hamlet supports the argument that her chief fault is wantonness, for these three characteristics can be seen in her character. The first characteristic, luxuriousness or extravagance, is not directly stated in the play but can be inferred from the actions of Gertrude. One possible reason for her remarriage after King Hamlets death is a desire to maintain her position as queen, with all its luxury and comfort.