The Affair of Gertude and Claudius in light of Anne Boleyn

When audiences and readers in our time encounter Hamlet, they may wonder: What is the fuss about a royal affair, and a queen marrying the brother of her dead husband? Royals had affairs often, and it’s now legal in many places to marry the sibling of a deceased spouse.

I have blogged in the past about Claudius, Gertrude, and the adulteries and alleged incest of Henry VIII [1], but it is also important to consider Gertrude and Claudius in light of the accusations of adultery and incest against Anne Boleyn.

Many know that Henry’s second wife, Anne Bolelyn, was accused of adultery, incest, and treason, and beheaded for it.

Fewer are aware that five men were accused of various things in association with Anne’s scandal (adultery, incest, treason, plotting assassination), and were also executed. These included
George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford (the Queen’s brother);
Henry Norris,
Mark Smeaton (musician at court),
William Brereton, and
Francis Weston (thought to be his image at left).

So not only would original English audiences of Shakespeare’s Hamlet have been reminded by the play of Henry VIII and his adulteries and allegedly incestuous marriage to his dead brother’s widow. They would also have been reminded by the play of the scandal for which Anne Bolelyn and five men were executed (which most historians now believe were false, trumped up charges) [2].

Many audience members would probably have considered the affair of Gertrude and Claudius while King Hamlet was still alive as treasonous and deserving of execution.

There was certainly a double standard, that Henry would have many affairs, but for Anne to be accused of having an affair was considered treason because it could threaten England’s hope for something approaching certitude about its royal heirs born of its queens.

Queen Elizabeth is said to have worn a locket with her mother's image. It is most likely that she learned from others in her court circles that her father's accusations against her mother were probably false, and that her father had had many affairs, often before his previous wife had died or been divorced.

But as the memory of her father was still strong and popular in some circles, it would have been imprudent for her to be publicly critical of her father and his affairs and marriages. Gossip and abused power were enough to kill a queen in the case of Anne Boleyn, and the play, Hamlet, demonstrates the power of the gossip that swirled around Ophelia regarding both her madness and the circumstances of her death.

NOTES:
[1] https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2018/03/incestuous-adulterous-murderous-beast.html

[2] “Today, historians generally agree that the charges against Anne and her supposed lovers were false, contrived by Cromwell to ensure the king was free to marry Jane Seymour.”
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-many-myths-of-lady-rochford-the-tudor-noblewoman-who-supposedly-betrayed-george-and-anne-boleyn-180980520/

IMAGES:
Left: “Probably Francis Weston,” one of those implicated and executed for alleged adultery, incest, and treason related to Queen Anne Boleyn. At the time, Henry was having an affair with Jane Seymour, who would become his next queen. Public domain, via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Francis_weston.jpg

Center: “Near contemporary painting of Anne Boleyn at Hever Castle, c. 1550.” Public domain via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AnneBoleynHever.jpg

Right: “Portrait of Henry VIII.” By Hans Holbein the Younger, circa 1537. Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. Public domain via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hans_Holbein,_the_Younger,_Around_1497-1543_-_Portrait_of_Henry_VIII_of_England_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

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Disclaimer: If and when I quote or paraphrase bible passages or mention religion in many of my blog posts, I do not intend to promote any religion over another, nor am I attempting to promote religious belief in general; only to explore how the Bible and religion influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
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Thanks for reading!
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My current project is a book tentatively titled Hamlet’s Bible, about biblical allusions and plot echoes in Hamlet.

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https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/12/top-20-hamlet-bible-posts.html

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