Hamlet (Vol. 44) | Carolyn G. Heilbrun (essay date 1957)
Carolyn G. Heilbrun (essay date 1957)
SOURCE: "The Character of Hamlet's Mother," in Hamlet's Mother and Other Women, Columbia University Press, 1990, pp. 9-17.
[In the following essay, originally published in 1957, Heilbrun argues that the traditional critical opinion of Gertrude as shallow and feminine ("in the pejorative sense") is wrong. Heilbrun instead asserts that Gertrude is "strong-minded, intelligent, succinct, and, apart from this passion [Gertrude's lust] sensible."]
The character of Hamlet's mother has not received the specific critical attention it deserves. Moreover, the traditional account of her personality as rendered by the critics will not stand up under close scrutiny of Shakespeare's play.
None of the critics of course has failed to see Gertrude as vital to the action of the play; not only is she the mother of the hero, the widow of the Ghost, and the wife of the current King of Denmark, but the fact of...
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