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I personally think Gertrude is innocent and did not know who kill King Hamlet. First of all, Gertrude is innocent because she was surprised of Hamlet’s accusations. An example can be seen when Hamlet states, “As kill a king and marry with his brother” (III, iv, 33). Nevertheless, Gertrude denies all the accusations and was shocked. Gertrude even responded with, “What have I done, that thou dar’st wag thy tongue” (III, iv, 44). This shows that she might not know of King Hamlet’s death. Gertrude even questioned Hamlet, what have I done and I didn’t do any wrong. Even though this might suggest that if she does not know about the death her husband and her marriage to King Hamlet’s brother, we can assume she might have problems or unintelligent. However, I think if she knew Claudius killed King Hamlet, she would be very devastated and might even contemplate suicide. Hence, this is why Gertrude has nothing to do with King Hamlet’s death.
In addition, another reason why Gertrude had no intention of killing King Hamlet because the ghost did not explicitly state that Gertrude was the person who killed King Hamlet. The ghost was ambiguous and only accuses Gertrude of marrying Claudius. This can be seen in act 1 where the ghost states, “That incestuous, that adulterate beast” (I, V, 47). We might not feel any sympathy for her marriage with Claudius, however, we don’t exactly know if she had any intention of killing King Hamlet. Throughout act 1, 2 or 3, Gertrude is a character who did not have any soliloquy that expresses her thoughts. This shows that as a reader, we do not know exactly if she was in with the murder.
In conclusion, Gertrude is a character in the play who has no evidence of feeling guilt for killing King Hamlet. There were no soliloquy or conversations of expressing her thoughts and feelings. It shows that Gertrude was not part of Claudius’ plans and had no idea who killed King Hamlet. What do you think? Did Gertrude know about the murder of King Hamlet?