For example, Hamlet says the word devil in acts two and three, while Laertes says it in acts four and five. The last person to say the word devil is Polonius in the second act. In all these cases these men describe the devil as someone evil or bad. One of the reasons Shakespeare only has male characters say this vulgar word is that it was inappropriate for women to utter such vulgar language. Even when describing how Hamlet's mother Gertrude is blinded by the devil in the third act, Gertrude does not say the word devil in their conversation, only Hamlet mentions it. The way this relates to the meaning of the work is that only men could potentially be influenced by the devil, or be the devil themselves. Although Gertrude was thought to have been blinded by the devil, it is never thought that she herself is blinded or that the devil did.