Part 37: Sts. Gertrude, pilgrim's lovers, & mousetraps (Interlude D.4)
Previously [1], I argued that Gertrude suspects a poison cup but doesn’t know for certain, so she signals publicly that she will drink in order to mousetrap Claudius. He tells her not to drink; she replies, “I will, my lord; I pray you pardon me.” [2]
Hamlet said he would catch the conscience of the king, but first, his playlet sought to catch Gertrude’s conscience.
I am grateful to Federico La Sala for mentioning saints by the name of Gertrude whose legends were familiar in the middle ages and Shakespeare’s time.
These included Gertrude the Great from the monastery of Helfta, a mystic who, with other sisters, explored a spirituality in which they believed they were “brides of Christ.” In The Herald of Divine Love, she speaks of paying a debt, [3] which sounds like the widow helped by the prophet Elijah (2 Kings 4:1-7), which Hamlet associated with his mother. [4]
Gertrude as a “bride of Christ” also relates to Ophelia’s song early in 4.5 about knowing her true love as a pilgrim.
GERTRUDE’S MOUSETRAP:
There is also St. Gertrude of St. Gertrude of Nivelles, associated with ridding her convent’s storeroom of mice by the power of prayer. [5] Testing the cup for poison to mousetrap Claudius makes more sense if Shakespeare changed the name of Hamlet's mother to Gertrude, after a saint associated with eradication of mice, which were associated with the devil via St. Augustine's "mousetrap" of the cross.
References to saints does not require that Shakespeare was a crypto-Catholic, but merely that he knew his audience included Catholics and could exploit religious meanings to serve the purposes of his plays. [6]
Instead of assuming Gertrude is stupid [7], this assumes Gertrude was
- paying attention to the playlet, “The Mousetrap” [8] aka “The Murder of Gonzago” [9];
- changed her her orientation toward Claudius after she speaks with Hamlet in her closet in 3.4;
- felt guilt when speaking with "mad" Ophelia in 4.5;
- was suspicious of Claudius after 3.4 and of poison in 5.2.
Protestants won the English religious war with Catholics; Protestant bias may have kept some scholars preferring that Gertrude be stupid, alcoholic, unrepentant, and damned, neglecting textual evidence (and Gertrude's name) that hinted otherwise.
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/03/part-37-sts-gertrude-pilgrims-lovers.html
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NOTES: All references to Hamlet are to the Folger Shakespeare Library online version: https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/hamlet/entire-play/
[1] https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/03/part-36-gertrude-builds-better.html
[2] 5.2.318.
[3] St. Gertrude the Great, 2nd edition, trans. Dolan, Gilbert, Sands & Co. (1913),
https://archive.org/details/stgertrudethegre00dolauoft/page/82/mode/2up?view=theater
[4] 3.4.192-3: "...when you are desirous to be blest, I’ll blessing beg of you." See previous blog post: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/12/part-2-hamlet-and-inherited-debt-2.html
See also, Matthew 5:25-26 / 1599 Geneva Bible:
25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him, lest thine adversary deliver thee to the Judge, and the Judge deliver thee to the sergeant, and thou be cast into prison.
26 Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt not come out thence, till thou hast paid the utmost farthing.
When Hamlet speaks at the end of how death is a sergeant who is strict in his arrest, he is alluding to this passage from Matthew.
[5] “St. Gertrude of Nivelles' patronage was never made official by the Vatican, but her association with whisking away mice and rats made her, by default, the saint that all cat lovers venerated.”
March 10, 2022
https://www.drelseys.com/2022/03/10/history-of-st-gertrude-the-patron-saint-of-cats/
“It was believed that one day St Gertrude saved monastery's supplies by repelling mice only with the force of her prayer. That is why St' Gertrude became a patroness against rodent plagues, protecting from rats and mice.” Jul 21, 2022,
http://en.posztukiwania.pl/2022/07/21/patron-saints-of-mice-cats-and-thunderstorms/
[6] “Shakespeare is not treating us to an imaginative presentation of theology. He is testing theology with his imagination and using theology for his artistic purpose.” (105) Robert G. Hunter, Shakespeare and the Mystery of God’s Judgments (1976)
[7] Dusinberre, Juliet, Shakespeare and the Nature of Women, p. 218: “She is a stupid, straightforward woman of blunted sensibility.” I suspect Dusinberre says this, summarizing, based perhaps more on productions and scholarly assumptions than on a close reading of the whole text(s) of the play.
[8] 3.2.261
[9] 2.2.564; 3.2.263, 288, 290.
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IMAGES: L-R
Mouse (corner detail), St. Gertrudis von Nivelles,
stained glass window, Basilica of Our Lady in Tongeren,
Belgium. Photo by G.Freihalter, 11 Oct. 2012,
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported. Via https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Tongeren_Liebfrauenbasilika_Fenster_Andreas_736.JPG
Statue, St. Gertrude, wood, 16th century. Our Lady of Pottery Museum, Bruges. 28 October 2021, 09:52:30. Photo by Jospe. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0. Via
http://en.posztukiwania.pl/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/Sainte_Gertrude_O.L.V._ter_Potterie_Museum.jpg
St. Gertrudis von Nivelles, stained glass window, Basilica of Our Lady in Tongeren (see above).
Saint Gertrude of Nivelles, by unnamed Flemish painter, circa 1530, Fondazione Palazzo Coronini Cronberg, Gorizia. Uploaded to de.wikipedia 00:46, 12. Mär 2004 by de:Benutzer:Irmgard. Public domain via https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/GetrudNivelles.jpg
Detail, Statue, St. Gertrude, wood, 16th century. Our Lady of Pottery Museum, Bruges. (See above).
OTHER IMAGES IN BLOG POST (lower collage of 2):
St. Gertrude of Nivelles, in street lamp console at Oudegracht 321, Utrecht, NL.
Photo by Kattenkruid. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
Via Wikimedia.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Console_Oudegracht_321.jpg
St. Gertrude de Nivelles, oil painting circa 1523, from the Hours of Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg (1490-1545), Archibishop and Elector of Mainz, by Simon Bening (circa 1483/1484–1561). Carnegie Museum of Art. Public domain via Wikimedia.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Simon_Bening_-_Saint_Gertrude.jpg
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INDEX OF OPHELIA POSTS:
My 2023 series on Ophelia, and earlier Ophelia posts:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/10/index-of-ophelia-posts-2023-series-and.html
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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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