Her opinions always seem to parallel those of the people around her, namely Claudius. However, immediately after Polonius, the king’s aide, offers his hypothesis that Hamlet is heartbroken, Gertrude states “It may be, very like” (2.2.153). In the middle of Act 2, the queen, in a conversation about Hamlet’s prolonged depression, states, “I doubt it no other but the main/ His father’s death and our o’erhasty marriage”.
Gertrude’s ambivalence causes her will to be weak, and we often see her easily swayed. Her acceptance of death and the great influence Claudius has on her will causes her to forget her former husband rapidly. She has a rather realistic view on death, accepting it as a simple fact of life. Consider the way she discusses the notion of death with Hamlet: “Thou know’s ‘tis common all that lives must die,/ Passing through nature to eternity” (1.2.72-73). While Hamlet and Claudius struggle to cope with their memories, Gertrude, Claudius’ new Queen and old Hamlet’s widow, appears to be oddly passive, even apathetic about her husband’s death. After having murdered his own brother, Claudius undoubtedly attempts to forget what has been and only focus on what is or what will be. While being a rather insensitive means of cheering a nephew up, this statement also reveals the character of Claudius in regards to his view of the past. In an effort to bring Hamlet out of mourning and into the present he states, “’Tis unmanly grief./ It shows a will most incorrect to heaven,/A heart unfortified, a mind impatient,/ An understanding simple and unschooled” (1.2.94-97). He is, essentially, living the dream, or at least attempting to. On the other hand, Claudius, the late king’s brother and murderer finds himself with a new bride and a crown upon his head. The memory of his father’s death is physically lodged in his mind and so he is forced to remember and continue to mourn. Hamlet, having lost a father two months prior and helplessly witnessing the hasty marriage of his mother and uncle, is in mourning. Upon the first glimpse into the dichotomy between Hamlet and his uncle and stepfather, Claudius, the poles of memory are defined. Those that can see remember, those that cannot have forgotten. We must consider who of them can and cannot see the ghost in order to understand that the ghost is an embodiment of memory. While many may argue that Old Hamlet appears simply to have his death revenged, there are deeper reasons which can only be found when we analyze the psychological state of Hamlet and fellow cast of characters. While the ghost portends an ominous future by its very nature, we must also consider why he shows up in the first place. It is interesting how the characters, upon seeing a figure from their memories, immediately begin speculating about the present or the future. “My father’s spirit in arms? All is not well,” states Hamlet (1.2.255). Consider their reactions to the appearance of Old Hamlet’s spirit: “This bodes some strange eruption to our state,” says Horatio (1.1.69). Upon the walls of Hamlet’s castle, a spectre appears before three guards and Hamlet. Brian Blessed as the ghost of Hamlet in Hamlet (1996)
It is this discrepancy that will be examined.
While the guards and Hamlet are able to see the ghost, the king’s wife, Gertrude, and her new husband, the king’s brother, Claudius, cannot see the ghost. In the first act of the play young Hamlet’s father, the late King Hamlet of Denmark, appears to some guards on the castle walls. What are ghosts if not an embodiment of our own memory? The ghost in a literary setting almost always directs attention backwards in time and causes the living characters to reflect on prior events. The past lives on in memories and in that sense, even the dead are alive in us. The Ghost of Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “Purpose is but the Slave to Memory.”