Lyrical Ballads and Hamlet - Essay Example

he genuineness of the actions taken by Gertrude as a female character, it is still evident that Shakespeare tries to create a realization of this character as a human being (Stephen 1). Therefore, this paper attempts to scrutinize the extent to which self-hood can be attained through the use of female characters as depicted by Shakespeare in Hamlet and The Female Vagrant by Wordsworth. The realization of the human nature in Gertrude is observed when she drinks the poisoned wine that was prepared by Claudius, her husband, for Hamlet.

Looking at this incident critically, it is evident in Act 3 that Gertrude came to herself and felt the guilt behind all the evils she was doing. For instance, it is possible that Gertrude had an affair with Claudius even while she was still married to King Hamlet and probably this is why the marriage between her and Claudius worked out so fast after the King’s death. Moreover, it may still be possible that Gertrude participated actively in secrecy towards the murder of her husband since from the play; she does not seem to consider the claims of her son that his uncle murdered his father, the King of Denmark (Stephen 3).

Some of the actions of Gertrude seem to be powered by her wish and ambition to retain her station in the palace and her status as the Queen of Denmark (Stephen 4). These are valid human ambitions, and every other human is bound to be filled with the desire to maintain a royal status. It is therefore not surprising that Gertrude would be willing to do everything to see to it that she retains her status as the Queen of Denmark. What makes this ambition all wrong is going to the extreme; being ready even to see her husband die and start having sex with another man even before long after her husbands death creates a lot of suspicions (Stephen 4).

However, despite all the bad things that Claudius did, she finally admitted that she was wrong, although she did not use spoken language to regret her deeds, but her actions