Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Why doesn't Gertrude see the ghost?
So, we started talking about this is class today, but I thought I'd put it on the blog. The big question is: Why doesn't Gertrude see the ghost of King Hamlet? In the beginning of the play, when the ghost appeared, everyone saw it, not just Hamlet. But in Act 3 Scene 4 Gertrude and Hamlet are talking and then the ghost of King Hamlet appears. Hamlet sees it and starts talking to it, but Gertrude does not. Hamlet asks her if she sees the ghost there and she says she doesn't. She then immediately says that Hamlet is mad. So, why is it that she doesn't see the ghost? Is it to show that maybe now Hamlet really is going mad? Or is it that the ghost only wanted to be made known to Hamlet in that moment? What do y'all think is the reason for this?
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3 comments:
The answer is obvious: She simply isn't getting high enough.
Cast your minds back to a simpler time: September 2019. We were discussing the hit novel Sing, Unburied, Sing and Brandon Stokes and I discussed how Leonie saw ghosts every time she got high. We determined that taking drugs, specifically meth, was required to see ghosts.
If Gertrude were getting as gaked up on whoop chicken as Hamlet and his homies, she'd be seeing ghosts too.
Drugs also explain Hamlet's crazy behavior.
Tl;dr: Hamlet is on meth.
I believe Gertrude cannot see the ghost because the ghost doesn't want her to see him. The ghost only appears to those he wants to be seen by i.e. the guards at the beginning of the play, Horatio, and Hamlet. I also think Gertrude cannot see the ghost because she is a terrible person who was apart of Hamlet Sr's murder
This is a good question because as we know Horatio, Bernardo, and Marcellus all saw the ghost early on, and Hamlet talks to him then. However, now, when the ghost appears in the palace, Gertrude can't see or hear him. This leads her into believing Hamlet has gone mad when he starts talking to him. I think that Gertrude can't see the ghost, as the ghost is disturbed and offended by her. As stated in the play within the play, "A second time I kill my husband dead when second husband kisses me in bed." In a similar way, the ghost is upset that Gertrude remarried after his death and does not want to reveal himself to her.
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