Why is Hamlet angry at Gertrude?

Answer 1

Hamlet always questions that life is evil / bad and can turn on a dime ("the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune") and of course his whole rant about women being evil "god hath given you one face and you make yourselves another . . . you jig and you amble and you nickname gods creatures . ." Then, he goes so far as to say he IS evil and wishes that his mother had never had him. He wants Ophelia to "get thee to a nunnery" because he cannot handle the thought of anymore evil people being born. ("breed a race of sinners.)He also says finally to Laertes, "I pray thee take thy hands from my neck . . .I have something within in me that you . . .should fear."

Answer 2

He hates that Gertrude married Claudius, and so soon after his father died. This is a common reaction for children about parents who remarry, but in this case it may reflect a worry that Gertrude was involved in the murder or at least was having an affair with Claudius. The over-hasty marriage is probably also why Claudius is king instead of Hamlet. Hamlet also just hates Claudius, murder issues aside, and sees the whole thing as incestuous (which, in the time of Shakespeare, it would have been considered).

Answer 3

People have a tendency to take what Hamlet says at face value in the play Hamlet. We therefore end up seeing things through Hamlet's eyes. Unfortunately, Hamlet's view of the world is skewed. He hates his uncle and is angry with his mother for marrying him. In the eyes of everybody else on stage, his continuing anger at the marriage is weird. So, when Hamlet says "frailty, thy name is woman!" it tells us a lot more about Hamlet than it does about women.

If you step back from Hamlet's rantings, you find that the two women in the play are not bad. Ophelia is weak, and has been further weakened by the bullying she gets from her father. It is not surprising that she should meekly go along with his plans. There is no malice in Ophelia and it is Hamlet that is cruel to her, not the other way around. Ophelia is a victim.

Gertrude is not the sex-mad fiend Hamlet paints her as. After the death of one husband she moved on to another. Unlike her son, she has dealt maturely with the death of Hamlet Sr. She is a faithful wife to her new husband, and appears to love him dearly. There is no reason to believe that she was complicit in the murder of her first husband, and indeed it would appear that she did not even suspect it until Hamlet says "as kill a king and marry with his brother." After that, it dawns on her what has happened, and her ardour for Claudius cools. You cannot help but admire her clear and razor-sharp mind as it cuts through Polonius's blither: "More matter with less art".

Compared with the characters of Claudius, Polonius, and even Hamlet (Horatio is as horrified as we should be at the cavalier way in which he sends R & G to their deaths), Ophelia and Gertrude look pretty good.

Some people would consider Shakespeare's portrayal of female characters to be in an "unfavourable light" unless they were completely flawless. Flawless characters would be exceedingly dull to watch; Shakespeare knew that women like men have flaws, which is what makes them interesting.

Answer 4

breeder of sinners

Answer 5

Hamlet likes little boys.