H/W 18th April 2018
How far would you agree that Hamlet is more concerned about his mother’s second
marriage rather than his father’s murder? [TIMED – 1 HOUR]
I would agree to a greater degree that Hamlet is more concerned about his mother’s second
marriage than his father’s murder; this can be seen through his reactions towards Gertrude and their
conversation in the bedroom – which could be seen as full of anger and passion – about her
marriage to Claudius, alongside Hamlet’s inability to actually avenge his father throughout the whole
play. However, there is evidence to indicate that he is affected by the murder of his father,
particularly by how it becomes his focus, possibly even a driving force in some aspects.
The first suggestion that Hamlet is more troubled by his mother’s marriage is through their
dialogue in Act 3 Scene 4, with the first instance being the way Hamlet rebukes Gertrude’s
statement of ‘thou hast thy father much offended’ with ‘you have my father much offended.’ The
use of different pronouns to mean different men implies that Hamlet sees Claudius as a lower being
than Old Hamlet; as father could also be interpreted as ‘Father’ of Denmark – meaning King – it
could also be read that Hamlet is also disregarding Claudius as his King as well, further emphasising
his point that he doesn’t approve of the marriage of Claudius and Gertrude. This point is then
highlighted by how he states that Gertrude is ‘[her] husband’s brother’s wife.’ He then goes on to
say his belief that ‘o such a deed [of marrying Claudius] as from the body of contraction pluck the
very soul,’ implying that his mother violated her first marriage’s contract by marrying the King’s
brother, and that has ‘plucked’ her soul from her. From this you can infer his anger and distaste of
the situation; when watching the Tennant and Branaurgh interpretations, both these actors visualise
this anger and passion, and fully accentuate this concern. Despite what is thought to Hamlet’s main
concern, he in this time has not mentioned the murder of his father, or how he believes that
Claudius killed him. This could possibly be due to how that would be classed as treason and lead him
to the gallows, but his focus on what would be seen as incest during the Elizabethan era gives
evidence to suggest that Hamlet was far more concerned by his mother’s second marriage than the
death of his father. Adelman’s feminist analysis also implies that Hamlet’s focus actually centres on
his mother rather than his father, and that Gertrude and her ‘whorish’ actions are what drive his
actions, not Old Hamlet or revenge.
This is shown by how only at the very end of the play Hamlet finally kills Claudius with the
poisoned foil, after his mother has died; with the knowledge that Hamlet had the middle of the play
– Act 3 Scene 3 – to kill Claudius, this would give some evidence to suggest that his father’s death
was not as concerning as his mother’s marriage. This point is emphasised by how Hamlet in Act 3
Scene 3 describes Claudius as a ‘villain’ that ‘kills [his] father’ but describes Claudius’ marriage to
Gertrude as ‘incestuous pleasure.’ These descriptions have different tones to them; by using the
adjective ‘kills’ Hamlet is rather distant from the situation, but the sibilance of adjective ‘incestuous’
accentuates the stresses within the word, and emphasises it in the sentence. Whilst both would be
considered crimes in the Elizabethan era, Hamlet’s anger of Claudius and his marriage could suggest
that this is a more disturbing issue for Hamlet, going far beyond that of a crime. To supplement this
idea, in Act 5 Scene 2 Hamlet goes on to say how ‘[Claudius] that hath killed my king, and whor’d my
mother.’ The use of the pronoun ‘king’ as opposed to ‘father’ shows a distance between a personal
relationship and one between a king and his subject; in contrast, Hamlet uses ‘mother’ which is
much more personal. You can infer from this that Hamlet is far more concerned for his mother than
his father, and that Adelman’s thesis about him saving his mother rather than avenging his father is
How far would you agree that Hamlet is more concerned about his mother’s second
marriage rather than his father’s murder? [TIMED – 1 HOUR]
I would agree to a greater degree that Hamlet is more concerned about his mother’s second
marriage than his father’s murder; this can be seen through his reactions towards Gertrude and their
conversation in the bedroom – which could be seen as full of anger and passion – about her
marriage to Claudius, alongside Hamlet’s inability to actually avenge his father throughout the whole
play. However, there is evidence to indicate that he is affected by the murder of his father,
particularly by how it becomes his focus, possibly even a driving force in some aspects.
The first suggestion that Hamlet is more troubled by his mother’s marriage is through their
dialogue in Act 3 Scene 4, with the first instance being the way Hamlet rebukes Gertrude’s
statement of ‘thou hast thy father much offended’ with ‘you have my father much offended.’ The
use of different pronouns to mean different men implies that Hamlet sees Claudius as a lower being
than Old Hamlet; as father could also be interpreted as ‘Father’ of Denmark – meaning King – it
could also be read that Hamlet is also disregarding Claudius as his King as well, further emphasising
his point that he doesn’t approve of the marriage of Claudius and Gertrude. This point is then
highlighted by how he states that Gertrude is ‘[her] husband’s brother’s wife.’ He then goes on to
say his belief that ‘o such a deed [of marrying Claudius] as from the body of contraction pluck the
very soul,’ implying that his mother violated her first marriage’s contract by marrying the King’s
brother, and that has ‘plucked’ her soul from her. From this you can infer his anger and distaste of
the situation; when watching the Tennant and Branaurgh interpretations, both these actors visualise
this anger and passion, and fully accentuate this concern. Despite what is thought to Hamlet’s main
concern, he in this time has not mentioned the murder of his father, or how he believes that
Claudius killed him. This could possibly be due to how that would be classed as treason and lead him
to the gallows, but his focus on what would be seen as incest during the Elizabethan era gives
evidence to suggest that Hamlet was far more concerned by his mother’s second marriage than the
death of his father. Adelman’s feminist analysis also implies that Hamlet’s focus actually centres on
his mother rather than his father, and that Gertrude and her ‘whorish’ actions are what drive his
actions, not Old Hamlet or revenge.
This is shown by how only at the very end of the play Hamlet finally kills Claudius with the
poisoned foil, after his mother has died; with the knowledge that Hamlet had the middle of the play
– Act 3 Scene 3 – to kill Claudius, this would give some evidence to suggest that his father’s death
was not as concerning as his mother’s marriage. This point is emphasised by how Hamlet in Act 3
Scene 3 describes Claudius as a ‘villain’ that ‘kills [his] father’ but describes Claudius’ marriage to
Gertrude as ‘incestuous pleasure.’ These descriptions have different tones to them; by using the
adjective ‘kills’ Hamlet is rather distant from the situation, but the sibilance of adjective ‘incestuous’
accentuates the stresses within the word, and emphasises it in the sentence. Whilst both would be
considered crimes in the Elizabethan era, Hamlet’s anger of Claudius and his marriage could suggest
that this is a more disturbing issue for Hamlet, going far beyond that of a crime. To supplement this
idea, in Act 5 Scene 2 Hamlet goes on to say how ‘[Claudius] that hath killed my king, and whor’d my
mother.’ The use of the pronoun ‘king’ as opposed to ‘father’ shows a distance between a personal
relationship and one between a king and his subject; in contrast, Hamlet uses ‘mother’ which is
much more personal. You can infer from this that Hamlet is far more concerned for his mother than
his father, and that Adelman’s thesis about him saving his mother rather than avenging his father is
