Introduction
Hamlet, from Shakespeare’s play, is the prince of Denmark. The character development in the tragedy is closely connected with Hamlet’s revenge on his uncle, Claudius. According to the plot, Claudius killed his brother, Hamlet’s father, to become the king and married Hamlet’s mother (Shakespeare, 2023). These actions make Hamlet hate his uncle. He thinks about murdering him, but hesitates, which causes frustration.
Choosing the Theory
Traditionally, Hamlet’s personality is regarded as an example of an individual who experiences dramatic feelings and cannot escape his destiny. This approach to analyzing Hamlet’s personality focuses on the cultural and social context in the play instead of analyzing suppressed thoughts and emotions that the prince might have. It is possible to discuss Hamlet’s thoughts and emotions from the psychoanalytical perspective articulated by Freud. According to this perspective, Hamlet associates himself with his uncle Claudius even though he does not consciously articulate it and talks about revenge. Hamlet does not kill Claudius, and his thoughts and words about revenge for his father’s murder remind him of the unconscious rivalry with his uncle.
From the psychoanalytic point of view, the prince is going through a complex internal conflict, which involves an opposition to his suppressed desire to gain his mother’s love and kill his father, and the social norms about dignity (Bateman et al., 2021). This condition has the symptoms of psychoneurosis that Freud describes in his works (Bateman et al., 2021). It allows one to assume that Hamlet suffers from the Oedipus complex, which makes him dream about becoming his mother’s lover and killing his father.
Presenting the Problem
Therefore, the problem in the tragedy is that Hamlet’s uncle killed the king, his brother, and married his wife. Still, Hamlet cannot murder Claudius in revenge. Instead, he is frustrated by his mixed emotions and experiences an identity crisis. From the psychoanalytical perspective, the son ought to marry his mother, which is the complete manifestation of the suppressed desire, in addition to the father’s death (Bateman et al., 2021).
Claudius kills Hamlet’s father instead of him and marries his wife, fulfilling his dreams about it. Hamlet’s mother has always shown him the most profound tenderness, which occasionally has a subtly sensual undertone. The argument is supported by two characteristics: the Queen’s sensuous temperament and intense affection for her child (Shakespeare, 2023). These qualities are represented in how the queen talks and acts after her husband’s death.
It is possible to illustrate the feelings caused by the Oedipus complex with the following lines from the play when Hamlet says: “Nay, but to live / In the rank sweat of an unseamed bed, / Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love / Over the nasty sty” (Shakespeare, 2023, p. 1). These lines describe the moment when Hamlet paints his mother with Claudius in bed, and focusing on this scene is consistent with the psychoanalytical affection for his own parent.
The psychoanalytical problem is also connected with Hamlet’s relationship with Ophelia. It is also possible to hypothesize that the prince’s attempts to fall in love with Ophelia are intended to block his unacceptable desire to become his mother’s husband (Bateman et al., 2021). It is unclear what exactly Hamlet’s initial feelings for Ophelia were.
There is indirect evidence that the old mother-attraction effect continues in this situation. Her childlike devotion and innocence dramatically juxtapose against the Queen’s personality (Shakespeare, 2023). It may indicate that Hamlet was unintentionally forced to select a wife who would not be reminiscent of his mother. It was the reaction to his instinctive response to the contrary extremity (Bateman et al., 2021).
It is possible to assume that part of his relationship began with a subconscious wish to make Ophelia fight with his mother rather than with an explicit love for her. Therefore, the conflict Hamlet experiences has a subconscious essence, and the psychoanalytical theory connects it with the repressed love of his mother.
Analysis of the Problem
It is critical to connect the ideas of the suppressed sexual desire of their mother and the death of their father in the analysis of Hamlet’s problem. The psychoanalytical theory supposes that since early childhood, boys suppress any connection between the concept of sexuality and their biological mother (Bateman et al., 2021). In the play, it becomes impossible after the assassination of Hamlet’s father. The sight of another person assuming this position, just as he had previously yearned to accomplish, awakens a long-time buried yearning to replace his biological father in his mother’s love (Bateman et al., 2021).
Despite his awareness, these long-buried urges still echo in his head, striving to surface again and requiring great effort to repress emotions. Hamlet falls victim to the miserable mental condition he so eloquently describes in the tragedy in the well-known monologue “To be or not to be” (Shakespeare, 2023, p. 1). In other words, the conflict between unacceptable dreams and reality.
In both instances, Hamlet’s father’s passing and his mother’s new marriage appear unconnected and lack an underlying commonality. The psychoanalytical theory supposes that people typically suppress the thoughts they regard as immoral and unacceptable, and the components of the Oedipus complex belong to these categories (Bateman et al., 2021). Death and marriage concepts are strongly linked to Hamlet’s subconscious dream, which he had for a long time.
Hamlet’s response to Ophelia represents one of the earliest signs that an old struggle has resurfaced in his unconscious. First, Hamlet does not describe his attitude toward his mother directly and straightforwardly, and this perception is multi-component. The above-mentioned rude outburst towards Ophelia briefly alleviates the profound sexual repulsion from being forced to associate the notion of his mother with sexuality (Bateman et al., 2021). Hamlet tells Ophelia about his reluctance to marry her: “I say we will have no more marriages” (Shakespeare, 2023, p. 1). As was already mentioned, Ophelia is entirely different from his mother, but this opposition is also Hamlet’s attempt to interact with his suppressed dreams about becoming the lover of his mother.
Alternative Analysis of the Problem
It is possible that the relationships with Ophelia and Hamlet’s unexpectedly rude behavior can be explained by the misogyny he developed due to his conscious repulsion toward his mother. Perhaps when the prince understood that he was dreaming about becoming his mother’s lover after assassinating his father, he consciously suppressed these ideas (Bateman et al., 2021). Therefore, the repulsion Hamlet feels towards Ophelia is not the consequence of his desire to interact with his mother’s sexuality somehow. It was the mere manifestation of a misogynistic attitude toward all females due to the inner conflict Hamlet experienced while suppressing his Oedipus complex.
Conclusion
From the psychoanalytical perspective, Hamlet suffers from an Oedipus complex connected with his desire to substitute his father for his mother’s lover. After Claudius murders Hamlet’s father and marries the Queen, the fantasy typical of people with an Oedipus complex is realized. Hamlet starts associating with his uncle, leading to hesitations concerning killing Claudius. In all cases, constant suppression of these emotions leads to Hamlet’s personality crisis and affects his relationship with Ophelia.
References
Bateman, A. W., Holmes, J., & Allison, E. (2021). Introduction to psychoanalysis. Routledge.
Shakespeare, W. (2023). The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. MIT.edu. Web.