amlet. The king was only “two months dead—nay, not so much, not two,” according to Hamlet, and already Gertrude has “married with [his] uncle” (I.ii. 138, 151). Prince Hamlet, in deciding to “speak daggers to [Gertrude], but use none” (III.ii. 366), uses harsh words upon his entry into her bedchamber and tells his mother “You are the Queen, your husband’s brother’s wife” (III.iv. 15). Gertrude is very defensive at this point and tells her son that he should not speak to her that way. But Hamlet is distraught and asks his mother “O shame, where is thy blush?” (III.iv, 72). He compares, for Gertrude the pictures of his father and his uncle and asks Gertrude how she could marry Claudius, who is “like a mildewed ear” (III.iv. 63) after having loved King Hamlet “A combination and a form indeed” (III.iv. 59). He warns his mother to “Repent what’s past, avoid what is to come” (III.iv. 141) and tells her “go not to mine uncle’s bed” (III.iv. 150). He tries to help Gertrude feel sorrow for her actions, by forsaking Claudius and realizing her offence to her first husband. After Hamlet has compared the two men for Gertrude she cannot bear his words anymore and says “O Hamlet, speak no more!/ Thou turn’st mine eyes into my very soul,/ And there I see such black and grained spots…” (III.iv. 78-80). This is the point in the play where Gertrude’s view shifts and she realizes what she has done in betraying her dead husband. She was not consciously aware that her new husband, Claudius, had killed her former, but she was always aware that her actions were incestuous, although she never admitted it. If she had not subconsciously known this, Hamlet’s words would not have caused her to look into her soul and be appalled by what she viewed. He reveals to his mother that hi...
