The tragic novel Hamlet written by the well known author William
Shakespeare has turned a lot of heads and people ever since the play came out have had a lot of options and contradictions about the play. Some people while reading the play don’t get all the points that Shakespeare was trying to make. When they finish reading the story, they begin grasping the points and themes and they determine that the play can be understood in different way. One of the many contradictions that people are faced with while reading Hamlet is that they think that Hamlet is crazy and some people think that he is not. Some argue that Hamlet was indeed in love with Ophelia and others argue that he never loved her. Some people also think that Gertrude, Hamlets mother, was not in the murder plot. For my opinion I think that she knew exactly what Claudius had in mind and she was part of the murder. Through out the play, Gertrude was very selfish. There are a lot of details in the play that follow my opinion.

When I read the book, I simply read for the sake of reading it, but once we started discussing the different themes and problems in the play, I got the deeper meaning of why Shakespeare wrote it. I am definitely sure that Gertrude knew about the murder plot. The first clue in the play that really got me thinking was in Act I, when Gertrude was marrying Claudius which was Hamlets uncle. They had Hamlet Sr. funeral and right after they got married the next month. That for me shows that Gertrude didn’t love Hamlet Sr. and she had no respect for him. Another clue determining that she knew about the murder plot is when, they were getting married, Hamlet was at their wedding and he was acting rude and screaming all over the place and everyone knew the reason why he was mad. Gertrude was listening to him while explain his feelings and how hurt he was with the new relationship, and she didn’t even try to comfort him or even explain to him why she was marrying his uncle. The same reaction was giving by Gertrude throughout the play. She was completely selfish and she only cared about her feelings. She never showed Hamlet that she cared about his feelings and that makes me stand by my opinion even more. She never supported him. She wanted Hamlet Sr. to die and she wanted Claudius as the new king and she wanted to marry him.

When Hamlet put on the play for Claudius to show him that he knew that he was the one that killed his father, Gertrude was right there by Claudius side and while watching the play and she didn’t give any sign or reaction concerning the play. Claudius did but he knew that he was the murder and he didn’t care about what he had done. Gertrude stood by his side thinking but she never said anything. The play was big clue that should of had made Gertrude realize that what she was doing and what she had done wrong but no that didn’t change anything.

Claudius knew that something was going on with Hamlet and he knew that Hamlet was planning revenge on him so he decided to send Hamlet to England. But before he did this, he talked to Gertrude about his idea and it seemed that Gertrude didn’t care that Hamlet was going away. She was actually supporting Claudius idea. This shows that she wants Hamlet gone too, so he doesn’t do anything to Claudius or even find out what had happened to his father.

The biggest clue that shows that Gertrude was part of the murder plot is when she decides to talk to Hamlet on Act 4. In the play it doesn’t say why she wanted to see him, but you can tell by the way that she is talking to him, that she was responsible for the murder. When Hamlet was in the room talking to Gertrude, Hamlet told her that the ghost of Hamlet Sr. was in the room with them. Gertrude told Hamlet she didn’t see anything. She pretended for my opinion that she didn’t see it. Some people at this part of the play think that Hamlet was only seeing the ghost because he was crazy, but I think that he is not and that Gertrude did indeed see the ghost, but she knew that if she told Hamlet that she did see the ghost, the theme of the play would turn out differently. Also, she was probably afraid that Hamlet would find out that she was indeed part of the plot. The evidence that follow up to this idea is in Act 4.

After having faced so many deaths that followed after Hamlet Sr. death Gertrude little by little also started feeling bad for what had happened and in the lasts scene of the play Act 5 scene 2, when she drank from the poisonous glass that Claudius had prepared for Hamlet, before she died, she told Hamlet that it was the glass that killed her. I bet that when she knew that she was also going to die, she decided to tell the truth because hamlet wouldn’t have to face her and finally understand that she was one of the murders.


Hamlet was a great play that showed a lot of good points and it showed how may different kinds of people are in the world. No one is the same. Hamlet Sr. and his son Hamlet were the victims in this play. Claudius and Gertrude the wife of Hamlet Sr. and the mom of Hamlet were the bad people that didn’t care about what happened to Hamlet Sr. and Hamlet. People all over the world have contradicted the play but the one thing that stands certain is that Hamlet Sr. died in counter of bad people and Hamlet stood by his side and never gave up on getting revenge. And the things that I also the truth in the word is tat you can never trust anyone to the fullest.