Student Question
What essential qualities, benefits, and potential threats are portrayed in three close relationships in Shakespeare's works, and what might the audience learn from them?
Quick answer:
While virtually any of Shakespeare's plays yields a relationship worth discussing, three close relationships are those of Hamlet and his mother, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, and King Lear and his three daughters. All of these are conflicted relationships that show the dangers of misjudging those closest to you.
1. In Hamlet, Hamlet and his mother, Gertrude, do seem to love each other, but their relationship is in almost-constant conflict, largely due to Gertrude's marriage to Hamlet's uncle, Claudius, after the death of Hamlet's father. It becomes more complicated when Hamlet learns that Claudius murdered his father. Hamlet confronts his mother in her room (Freudian readings are popular here) and urges her to stay away from Claudius. He is trying to get her out of the way, because he is intent on killing Claudius, while she goes along with Claudius's attempt to spy on Hamlet. While there is some reconciliation at the end, it is too late. Hamlet is let down by almost everyone he loves and cares about in the play, and it is, perhaps, a comment on the dangers of being too trusting.
2. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are the most infamous couple in Shakespeare. They...
Unlock This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
are close, but it is this closeness that destroys both of them. They can't seem to separate from each other, which we might now call a co-dependent relationship. Macbeth is a brave and bold general, but he takes all of his wife's advice, which leads to their murdering multiple people. The takeaway from this is that just because you love someone doesn't mean they always are right. Even if their relationship (helped along by some witches) ends in chaos, Macbeth still feels something for her and after her death and delivers one of the great speeches in Shakespeare, the "sound and fury"monologue.
3. Finally, in King Lear, we have an aging king and his three daughters, Cordelia, Goneril, and Regan. I think you have to look at his relationship with all three, as it really shows his failings as a father. He asks them to pay homage to him and, while Goneril and Regan are quick to flatter, Cordelia refuses, seeing it as a sham. She cannot be fake like her sisters. This leads to her banishment, while her sisters move quickly to take all of Lear's power and lands away. He has trusted the wrong daughters, and he suffers greatly for it. Cordelia is the true daughter, and though he does see this at the end, they both die, making it the most brutal of the three relationships examined here.