Why does claudius marry gertrude

Laertes has a "suit" a request ; he wants to return to France. Notice that the King not only says that he is reasonable, but also he asserts that he is the King, "the Dane. Laertes makes his request in most polite terms, and Polonius gives his genially reluctant approval, and everything's fine.

After this show of kindliness, it's now time for the King to deal with Hamlet. The King starts by saying, "But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son," again asserting his new position. Before, he was Hamlet's "cousin" we would say "uncle," but the word "cousin" covered a lot of territory then , and now he is still Hamlet's uncle, and also his father, because the King is married to Hamlet's mother. Hamlet replies, "A little more than kin, and less than kind" 1. Most editors put in a stage direction, "Aside," at this point, apparently because they believe that no one would say anything so insulting to the King's face.

What Hamlet means is that although the King is now "more than kin" because he is kin both as uncle and as father, he is less than "kind. Whether the King hears this insult or not, his next speech is insulting to Hamlet. It's obvious that Hamlet is still in mourning for his father, so the real meaning of the king's question is: "Forget your father, and quit being a wet blanket.

She wants Hamlet to be a "friend" to "Denmark," by which she means her new husband, the King of Denmark. And she wants him to quit walking around as though looking for his "noble father in the dust. This statement by the Queen is echoed throughout the play. Hamlet says it in different ways to the King and to the skull of Yorick; Ophelia sings about it; the Player King philosophizes about it.

However, at the moment, it arouses Hamlet's sarcasm. He doesn't think that the fact that everyone dies should be reason for his mother to rush from his father's grave to his uncle's bed. This overly elaborate language has the effect of strongly implying that those who did sigh and weep for his father's death were faking it.

He's not faking it, but he thinks his mother may have been. Now it's the King's turn to try to bring Hamlet around, and to show everyone else what a kind and caring person he is. The King concludes by showing how much Hamlet has to be grateful for: He wants Hamlet--and "the world"--to know that Hamlet is "most immediate to our throne," which sounds like a promise that Hamlet will be the next king.

Furthermore, he loves Hamlet like a son, and he wants him to stay at the castle, "Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye. The King probably doesn't like Hamlet any more than Hamlet likes him, but the King may feel a need to have Hamlet where he can keep an eye on him.

Hamlet's reply, "I shall in all my best obey you, madam," would require only the slightest emphasis on the "you" to make it an insult to the King, as in "I shall obey you , not him. He proclaims that Hamlet's reply is "gentle and unforc'd," so that he and the rest of the court can now go and celebrate by drinking and shooting off cannon. It appears that Hamlet is not invited. Exeunt all but Hamlet: After Hamlet agrees to stay in Denmark, everyone else leaves, and Hamlet is left alone with his thoughts.

Every thought in this, Hamlet's first soliloquy, is painful. I read this as Gertrude admitting to Hamlet that she understands or realizes that she has done terrible deeds and that she no longer wants to be forced to look upon her recent actions. Yet, she does not. Initially, I had hope for the above moment to serve as a turning point in which Gertrude turns to her sons aid instead of remaining loyal to Claudius.

Cleary, this is not the case. One might think that the mother-son bond is stronger than that of what? Social stability? Overall, I find that Gertrude is a slippery character. She is difficult to decipher, as we are unable to understand her actions and are never given access to her inner thoughts. Katie, I think Gertrude is such an important piece in this whole puzzle, and with her decision to marry Claudius, in turn eventually leads to the downfall of Hamlet. Her inner thoughts would be useful to know when trying to figure out her rational, but I think you did a good job highlighting as much of her reasoning which is available to the reader.

Katie, I agree, Gertrude is most certainly a hard character to get a handle on. Why should she turn into a sexless being after the death of her husband, and keep mourning forever?

Why should she deny the erotic part of herself? She expresses herself through what she can, and her body is one way to do so.

She has only 70 lines in the whole play, and every time that she speaks, there are some fundamental points being revealed. Learn more about the religious drama of Hamlet. At one scene, the players are putting on the Mousetrap play, and the player queen is exaggeratedly saying that if her husband should die, she would never, ever marry another. Hamlet asks his mother what she thinks about the play.

Learn more about staging Hamlet. Despite all that happens, Gertrude chooses to remain loyal to Hamlet. At the end of act three, he reveals to Gertrude that he is only mad in craft, not for real, and he askes her not to sleep with Claudius anymore.

She listens, and the evidence is in act four when Claudius calls her to follow him, and he has to repeat it several times before she does. The wine is poisoned, and even though Claudius tells her not to drink, she does.