Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

[An earlier post said that the next set would explore four different interpretations of Gertrude; this post explores the second of those interpretations in greater detail, a Gertrude who is surprised at finding herself poisoned, blinded by her own sentimentality.] Productions that portray Gertrude as unsuspicious and surprised to find in 5.2 that the cup from which she drank had been poisoned are not convincing to me: They ignore too many textual details. But many find it compelling.[1] We might well ask: Why do some people prefer an unsuspicious Gertrude who is surprised at the poison? - Do they prefer to view her as an unwitting victim of Claudius? - As being punished for alleged adultery and an "incestuous" marriage? - As lacking intelligence or wisdom enough to be suspicious? - As lacking agency, so they don't want her to be A) secretly acting as her son's wine-tester, testing for poison, B) setting a mousetrap deliberately for Claudius by choosing to drink, a...

There are as many interpretations of Gertrude as there are readers, spectators, and actors. My next four posts will explore just four readings of Gertrude, especially regarding motivations for drinking from what she may or may not know is the poison cup intended for her son. Whether Ophelia and Hamlet influence Gertrude or not can only be determined by scrutinizing what really happens with Gertrude. A brief summary of just four of many possibilities (I prefer # 4): 1. Gertrude as Protestant allegory for a corrupt Catholic Church. Gertrude drinks because she is a slave to her animal passions as mother, as incestuous adulterer, and as slave to drink. For an example of this reading, see Linda Kay Hoff, Hamlet's Choice: A Reformation Allegory. 2. A surprised Gertrude as queen of wishful thinking [1]: Gertrude sees “The Mousetrap” (with its mention of poison) and hears Hamlet accuse Claudius of murder, but thinks Hamlet is mad; she doesn’t tell Claudius of Hamlet’s accusations to protec...

Before completing my series on Ophelia, some elements about Gertrude require scrutiny. The controversy and mystery of Ophleia overlaps with Gertrude in a variety of ways: - Gertrude learns of her son’s love letters to Ophelia, encourages Ophelia’s love to heal her son’s madness, reports Ophelia’s death by drowning, and says at Ophelia’s grave that she wished Ophelia had been her son’s bride. Characters are said to be static (unchanging) or dynamic (changing) in light of developments in the plot and interactions with other characters. Without having to speculate at all whether she has any sort of Christian afterlife in heaven, hell, or purgatory, we might say that Ophelia has something of an afterlife through her example to, and influence on, the Queen. But this requires a clear understanding of a series of events and the evidence in the texts. In upcoming posts, I will explore some of these and other overlaps between Ophelia and Gertrude; the “envious sliver” of the willow that break...