'Critics often judge Gertrude as a weak, selfish and innocent woman, embroiled in conflicts she does not fully understand.' To what extent do you agree with this? The two female characters in Shakespeare's tragedy seem drowned in the fog of the deceptive power play played by the male characters, which contributes to the ongoing tragic conventions of murder, revenge and betrayal so prevalent in this form of drama. The title of Hamlet's metatheatrical play, "the mousetrap", is applicable to the plot of Shakespeare's "Hamlet"; Set in the particularly patriarchal society of Elsinore, dominated by the authoritative actions of male characters, Hamlet can be seen as a tragedy in which female characters have small and seemingly unimportant roles in the tragic plot compared to the "male" climactic moments – the visits of the Ghost , the dramatic battle between Hamlet and Claudius and the final conquest between Hamlet and his counterpart Laertes. Gertrude is a character whose fate is tragically overshadowed by the power of these men, indicative of the subservient role of women in the Jacobean period. Although directors often present Gertrude as a sensual and deceitful woman, vain and self-satisfied with strong sexual appetites, if you look at Shakespeare's text, this character has a very small and probably innocent voice in the play; indeed Rebecca Smith argues that "Gertrude's words and actions do not create the lustful, lustful, lascivious Gertrude generally seen in stage and film productions, but a compliant, loving, unimaginative woman whose only concern is pleasing others ". To evaluate Shakespeare's characterization of the Queen, it is necessary to examine... the middle of the paper... considered selfish, weak and innocent, involved in a conflict that she more than understands. Works CitedBamber, L.(1990) “Class struggle: Shakespeare and sexism”. The Women's Review of Books 7:5.Bradley, A.C. (1966) Shakespearean tragedy. New York: St. Martin's Press. Burnett, Mark, ed. (1994) New essays on Hamlet. New York: AMS Press. Granville-Barker, Henry. (1970) Prefaces to Shakespeare. New York: Hill and Wang. Heilbrun, Carolyn. (1957) Hamlet's mother. California: University of California Press. Kolin, Philip C. (1991). Shakespeare and feminist criticism: annotated bibliography and commentary. New York: Garland. Loske, Olaf. (1960) Scandalous Luck. Oslo: Oslo University Press.Shakespeare, William. Hamlet.Shakespeare, William. Macbeth.Smith, Rebecca. 'A heart split in two: the dilemma of Shakespeare's Gertrude’.