Gertrude never seems to get in the middle of Hamlet and Claudius' disputes, so many tend to assume that she is involved in King Hamlet's murder. However, there is an abundance of in-text evidence that suggests she is very innocent and oblivious to Claudius' plots throughout the play.
Maclise portrays an innocent Gertrude who apparently has no inkling of Claudius's guilt or even of the murder itself.
Queen Gertrude is a woman observably guilty of poor judgment and weak character. Her decisions, based largely on desire, lead to her death and the casualty of others as well.
Gertrude reveals no guilt in her marriage with Claudius after the recent murder of her husband, and Hamlet begins to show signs of jealousy towards Claudius.
In conclusion, Gertrude is a strong character in the play and affects the plot. She is a loving caring character and wants everyone to get along with each other. Gertrude also symbolizes Hamlet's shield and protection.
However, Shakespeare uses Gertrude's ignorance, symbols, and her actions to portray her as innocent. Gertrude condones spying on Hamlet and marries her husband's murderer, but she has no idea that Claudius killed King Hamlet and agrees that they must watch Hamlet closely because she is worried about him.
Instead, Gertrude's love for Claudius creates a thrilling twist to the closet scene in which he is revealed as a murderer. The final Act, in which she is clearly aware that the wine is poisoned, sees her sacrifice herself to save Hamlet. This is the tragic pinnacle of the production, and shapes its remaining moments.
When Claudius offers Hamlet the poisoned goblet of wine, Hamlet refuses, and Gertrude picks up the cup instead. Toasting Hamlet, she drinks the poison, ensuring her eventual death.
Gertrude and Claudius marry each other while Hamlet is still grieving the death of his father. Even though he does not know the new king is the murderer, Hamlet is explicitly against the marriage for some reason, and he keeps accusing his mother of lust until she regrets her decision.
As Hamlet outlines the actions that have already taken place, Gertrude seems to understand for the first time her complicity, a reaction that suggests she was completely innocent up to this point. Claudius has used her as a means of securing the crown on his head while gaining a lovely wife in the bargain.
He is upset because she married his late father's brother Claudius. Hamlet thinks that remarriage in such circumstances is unacceptable. Through Hamlet's disappointment with his mother, his anger is increased towards Claudius.
Hamlet moves from plotting the murder to committing it. After that, he accuses his mother of conspiring with Claudius and blames her for his father's death. However, after talking to her son, she feels ashamed of her actions as well.
Gertrude, still shaken from Hamlet's furious condemnation of her, agrees to keep his secret.
Putting Gertrude, The Queen in total deception was the kind of manipulation Claudius used to get closer to his power. As a strategic move to help him seize the throne away from Hamlet after the death of the King, he decided to marry Gertrude.
In her relationship with Claudius, Gertrude is driven by her sexual needs, which is the physical representation of her inner corruption. His mother's betrayal leads him to believe that all women are disloyal and dishonest to their husbands.
Gertrude betrays Hamlet and the late King Hamlet by marrying Claudius. Hamlet, being still depressed about his father's death was further upset and felt betrayed by his mother when she quickly married Claudius.
In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the general scholarly consensus is no, the Queen does not know that Claudius killed Hamlet's father until Hamlet tells her.
Claudius's love for Gertrude may be sincere, but it also seems likely that he married her as a strategic move, to help him win the throne away from Hamlet after the death of the king.
Their feelings about grief
Gertrude Lines 68-73 Gertrude tells Hamlet that he should no longer wear black mourning clothes and that he should look happier. She tells him he should not keep his eye downward as if he were looking for his father in the dirt. She reminds him that all people must die.
To ensure Hamlet's death, Claudius also has a poisoned cup of wine should Hamlet win the duel. Claudius does not intervene when Gertrude drinks the poisoned cup of wine because he does not want to give himself away.
She has a suspicion which is confirmed by the panic in Claudius' line "Gertrude, do not drink." She would figure out that there's poison in the cup and drink it anyway. She's discovered his treachery and doesn't want to be a part of it.
The King, the King to blame,” (V, II, 350-351): not only the poison killed Gertrude but his illogical plan caused the entire royal family to die. Claudius's own plan killed him because of his paranoid mind, which caused him to make thoughtless…
Even though Hamlet lashes out at her with all the rage he can muster, Gertrude remains faithful to him, protecting him fron the King. And, although her love for Claudius is wrong by moral standards, she is now his queen, and remains loyal to him.
So she has resolved that at the moment of informing Laertes of the sad event she must urge that it was purely accidental, while to lessen the bitterness of it she will assure him that the death was painless, Ophelia's mind having too far gone for her to feel 'her own distress.
She is often the victim of oppression and surveillance. She cannot be interpreted related with her own utterances. She has been the victim of males' words in the play. Gertrude should not be thought only as a sensual woman without taking into consideration of her sufferings and Hamlet's behaviours.