of time. What they don't realize is that it is the absence of Gertrude's love that makes Hamlet's grief that much more extreme. The three people that made up Hamlet's immediate family were he and his parents. With the death of his father, his mother was the only close family member he had, so when she chose to marry another not even two months after her husband's death, she not only showed her lack of remorse, but she also left Hamlet to deal with the death of his father alone. Because his feelings were contained and he had no one to share them with, he became trapped within his own jealous, lonely, grief.
             Hamlet also has to bear witness to his mother publicly displaying her affection to a man other than his father, not two months after his death. Although it pains him to see this, he does not wish harm upon his mother. Thinking of how his father and mother once loved each other and expressing his disgust with his mother's present situation, he says, "Within a month/ Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears/ Had left the flushing in her galled eyes/ She married. O, most wicked speed, to post/ With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!/ It is not, nor it cannot come to good./ But break my heart, for I must hold my tongue" (1.2.158-164). At this point, Hamlet is in pain yet he does not wish to hurt his mother, despite her wretched acts. The fact that he can see past her horrid flaws, and her total disregard for him, and still wish not to hurt her although she is imposing great amounts of pain upon him shows he truly loves her.
             The love that Hamlet has for his mother does not hinder his primary feelings
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