How Does Hamlet Feel About His Mother?

September 14, 2022 by Marjorie R. Rogers, MA (English), Certified Consultant

Hamlet is a play full of family dysfunction. Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, has married his uncle Claudius only two months after the death of his father. Hamlet is struggling with this betrayal and feels great anger towards both his mother and Claudius.

While he loves his mother, he cannot forgive her for her actions. Hamlet is also very critical of women in general and believes that they are weak and powerless. He thinks that his mother should have been stronger and not allowed herself to be controlled by Claudius.

Hamlet is a complex character with many different layers. While it’s impossible to know exactly how he feels about his mother, we can see that he has a complicated relationship with her. On the one hand, Hamlet clearly loves and respects his mother.

He speaks fondly of her in his soliloquies and seems to want nothing but the best for her. However, Hamlet is also critical of his mother’s actions, particularly her hasty marriage to Claudius. This creates a sense of ambivalence in Hamlet’s feelings towards his mother – he loves her but also finds fault in her choices.

Ultimately, Hamlet’s relationship with his mother is a reflection of his own inner conflict and turmoil.

How Does Hamlet Feel About His Mother in Act 1

In the first act of Hamlet, the titular character’s feelings towards his mother are a mix of anger and disgust. He is clearly still grieving for his father, who died just two months before the start of the play. Hamlet is also angry with his mother for marrying Claudius so quickly after his father’s death.

Hamlet’s disgust is most evident in his famous “To be, or not to be” soliloquy, where he contemplates suicide. In this speech, he compares life to a “burdensome” disease and talks about how easy it would be to simply end it all. This speech shows that Hamlet is not just angry with his mother, but that he has lost all hope in life itself.

Despite all of these negative emotions, Hamlet does seem to care for his mother in some ways. He speaks kindly to her when they first meet in Act 1 scene 2, and later tries to comfort her when she is upset about Polonius’ death. It is clear that Hamlet loves his mother, but he is also struggling to deal with her betrayal.

Credit: en.wikipedia.org

How Does Hamlet Feel About His Mother Why?

It is clear that Hamlet has a great deal of anger and resentment towards his mother. He is appalled by her hasty marriage to his uncle and he believes that she has betrayed his father’s memory. Hamlet is also disgusted by her sexual relationship with Claudius and he often refers to her as a ‘whore’.

However, it is possible that Hamlet still has some love for his mother as he is reluctant to kill her when given the opportunity. It seems that Hamlet’s feelings towards his mother are complex and conflicted.

Does Hamlet Care About His Mother?

In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the titular protagonist’s relationship with his mother, Queen Gertrude, is a major source of conflict. Throughout the play, Hamlet is constantly questioning her motives and accusing her of betraying his father’s memory. While it is clear that he cares for her on some level, it is also evident that he does not approve of her actions.

Hamlet’s first soliloquy in the play (Act 1, Scene 2) reveals his inner turmoil over his mother’s hasty marriage to his uncle Claudius less than two months after his father’s death. He bemoans the fact that she could “so soon forget” his father and “marry with [his] uncle.” This soliloquy sets the tone for Hamlet’s interactions with Gertrude throughout the rest of the play.

In Act 3, Scene 4, Hamlet confronts his mother in her chambers and accuses her of being an accessory to murder for marrying Claudius while knowing full well that he killed King Hamlet. He goes on to say that she has dishonored his father’s memory by sleeping with Claudius so quickly after his death. This scene ends with Hamlet forcibly kissing Gertrude before leaving her chamber in a rage.

Later in the play (Act 5, Scene 1), after learning from Horatio that Ophelia has died, Hamlet returns to Denmark intending to kill Claudius. However, when he sees his mother drinking from a goblet containing poison meant for him, he instead kills Polonius who was hiding behind a curtain in Gertrude’s chambers. After stabbing Polonius through the arras (a type of tapestry), Hamlet tells Gertrude not to drink from the goblet; however, she does not heed his warning and dies as well.

Upon seeing this happen, Hamlet finally realizes how much he truly cared for his mother and breaks down in tears next to her corpse. So does Hamlet care about his mother? It is clear that he loves her despite everything that has happened between them; however, their relationship is fraught with conflict and resentment due to Gertrude’s actions throughout the play.

How Does Hamlet Feel About His Mother Quotes?

In Hamlet, Shakespeare presents the main character, Hamlet, as a man who is deeply troubled by his mother’s remarriage to his uncle and her apparent lack of mourning for his father. Throughout the play, Hamlet expresses great anger and disgust towards his mother and her new husband. In particular, he is horrified by their sexual relationship and accuses them both of betraying his father’s memory.

In one famous soliloquy, Hamlet compares his mother to a “naked animal” engaged in “unnatural” sex (III.iv.28-32). He also upbraids her for marrying so quickly after his father’s death, accusing her of being disloyal and unfaithful. Elsewhere in the play, Hamlet tells Ophelia that he wishes his mother had died instead of remarrying (III.i.144-149).

In general, then, it is safe to say that Hamlet feels very negatively towards his mother and her new husband.

Hamlet and his mother scene

Conclusion

In the blog post, the author argues that Hamlet feels both anger and sadness towards his mother. He is angry because she has remarried so soon after his father’s death, and he is sad because he feels she does not loved him as much as she loved his father. The author concludes that Hamlet’s feelings towards his mother are complex and conflicted.