Absolutely crazy about Queen Gertrude because there's so much about her left unsaid, and depending on how you fill in those gaps you get an entirely different character.
Did she know about everything? Was she in on it? Did she want King Hamlet to die, or even have a hand in the murder herself? Did she hate him? Did she love him and do it anyway? Did she marry Claudius after for love or just to keep the status quo? If it was love, did they love each other before? Was it an affair or did they wait until the king was out of the way?
When Gertrude tells Hamlet to move past his grief, is she dismissing him in the hopes that things will go back to normal soon? Or does she just hate to see someone she loves torn apart like that? In the scene with Polonius and the tapestry, does she truly think her son will kill her, or does she just want to be safe rather than sorry?
When she says how she found Ophelia, is she lying? Did she find her in the water, or shove her and cover her tracks, or find her dead another, more gruesome way, and lie about how she got there to give her some dignity?
And at the very end, does she suspect the wine is poisoned and drink it anyway against Claudius's orders, or is she oblivious until her throat starts to spasm?
Depending on how you play her, you can have a Gertrude who was aware of everything and lying through her teeth the entire play, or completely oblivious and honest and just caught up in this ridiculous situation where all the blame falls on Claudius and the two Hamlets.
I personally prefer a middle ground -- I don't think she would've had a hand in every single thing, but I don't think she wouldn't lie to try and keep the peace. I like to think she married Claudius that quickly, partially to ensure that Denmark still had a king and things wouldn't get insane while they waited for another ruler (because god knows Prince Hamlet wasn't in a state to take over anyway), and partially out of love. Or, if not love exactly, then just that she liked Claudius better than King Hamlet.
The biggest thing she wanted, in my eyes, was peace and normalcy, but I also see her as very passive. She wouldn't do anything too horrible to keep the boat from rocking, but if someone else decided to get their hands dirty to do it, I don't think she'd necessarily stop them.
annaxmalina
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