Oedipus-Complex In Shakespeare's Hamlet

The Ghost in Hamlet cleared out the event that Hamlet was uncertain of. The spirit clarified the death of King Hamlet, and caused Hamlet to perform his evil deeds. The Ghost’s request to avenge him caused the death of Hamlet’s family, friends, and eventually himself; therefore, the spirit can be viewed as evil because it failed the four tests that was set by Lewes Lavater and the Church.

The Ghost in Hamlet is a widely controversial topic with arguments determining whether the Ghost is a “goblin damn’d” or a “spirit of health.” (1.4.40) “‘A spirit of health’ is one, which comes from heaven with charitable intentions, and ‘a goblin damn’d’ is one, which comes from Hell with wicked intentions.” The Ghost only has two appearances in the play and is a symbol for uncertainty, yet it is important as it catalyses the play into action and also Hamlet into madness. The Ghost in Hamlet is an evil spirit returning to revenge his killer Claudius; which is a questionable action for a Catholic person leading the audience to believe that the Ghost is evil. He pressures Hamlet into revenging Claudius while destroying Hamlet’s

The Oedipus conflict or complex is a concept developed by Sigmund Freud to explain the origin of certain psychological disorders in childhood. It is defined as a child's unconscious desire for the exclusive love of the parent of the opposite sex. This desire includes jealousy toward the parent of the same sex and the unconscious wish for that parent's death. Horney states that it is not a “biologically given phenomenon” but rather a response to the “provocation’s” of the outside world.(Horney)

In the play by William Shakespeare, the ghost of King Hamlet approaches his mourning and depressed son, Hamlet, who is still affected by his death. The ghost explains to Hamlet how he died and demands that Hamlet avenge his death. Note how the ghost approaches Hamlet when he’s the weakest and still mourning to persuade and manipulate him into taking revenge for him. In Act one Scene 5 the ghost states, “If thou didst ever thy dear father love-/ Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.” The way King Hamlet words his request is more as a challenge; in which Hamlet’s love for his dead father can only be proven by carrying out whatever his father wishes. The ghost influences most Hamlet’s behavior, which not only affects the plot, but also the relationships with other characters. The ghost influences the relationship between Hamlet and his mother, Gertrude. He becomes angry at Gertrude because of her fast marriage with his uncle Claudius. Through the use of innuendos, antic disposition, and metamorphic plays, Hamlet makes it his duty to get King Claudius back for killing his father. Hamlet agreed to avenge his father without second thought. As the play advances, Hamlet begins to doubt the apparition. In act 3 Hamlet begins to have second thoughts and states, “The spirit that I have seen/ May be a devil…” This shows Hamlet’s inner conflict between listening to his father and avenging his death or following his ethics. To be sure that Claudius

In the early 1600’s, William Shakespeare created the masterpiece play Hamlet. Since that day, numerous theaters have performed the play and many publishers have made they’re version of the original playwright (the original copy is at an unknown location.) For these years, there has been numerous debatable aspects of Hamlet - one of which being whether or not the ghost encounter with the deceased King Hamlet was real. Of course, Horatio is the credible witness to tell us of the ghost’s existence - but the ghost never actually talks to him like he does Hamlet. In fact, no one besides Hamlet has actually heard the ghost of King Hamlet speak. Furthermore, Hamlet is already grief-stricken over his father’s death and completely expects this ghost

In the first scene of the play the guards of the Kingdom of Denmark are frightened by a ghost that looks similar to the recently deceased King Hamlet. These guards go to Prince Hamlet, the dead king’s son, and report to him their sightings. Very intrigued, and currently grieving over his fathers death, Hamlet decides to watch the next night in order to personally see the ghost. The following night the ghost arrives and summons Hamlet to him. When Hamlet first sees the ghost he is questioning what the ghost actually is and his intentions, “be thou a spirit of health or goblin damned, bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell”. Hamlet is questioning whether this figure is from heaven or hell. This is one of the views of Protestants. There is a spiritual world and a human world. The spiritual world consists of Heaven and Hell, with nothing in

In this revenge tragedy, which is a play in which the plot typically centers on a spectacular attempt to avenge the murder of a family member, Hamlet’s call to adventure is when the ghost, whom he believes to be the ghost of his recently deceased father, beseeches Hamlet that he avenge his death (Charters and Charters 1251). At first looking at the ghost, he questions the authority of him and contemplates that the apparition is just the devil tempting him:

Throughout William Shakespeare’s classic play, Hamlet, it is very clear that the Prince of Denmark suffers from severe parental problems. These problems bear a stark resemblance to those borne by Oedipus, the classic staple of Greek mythology. The similarities, however, end and begin with an unhealthy obsession towards the mothers of each character and a distinct distaste towards the father that would border on hatred. Oedipus is, due to childhood experiences that were uncontrollable to him, largely unaware of these issues and even takes steps to disprove them. Hamlet, on the other hand, finds himself in this situation due to circumstances that he encounters later in life. While both Hamlet and Oedipus have very unnatural and unusual

Throughout William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Shakespeare portrays Hamlet with the same types of behaviors and frustrations in humans that Sigmund Freud saw at a much later date. When the relationship between Hamlet and his mother is analyzed Freud's oedipal complex theory comes to mind. The oedipal complex is a theory created by Freud that states that "The child takes both of its parents, and more particularly one of them, as the object of its erotic wishes."(51) Because of this desire to be with the parent of the opposite sex, a rivalry is formed with the parent of the same sex. In the play, Hamlet shows great hostility toward his uncle Claudius because his mother's remarriage to him. Hamlet sees his mother's remarriage as disgusting

The third Elizabethan belief in ghosts was that people were believed to be hallucinating if they believe they had seen a ghost. “Persons affected by mania or melancholy are most commonly subject to receive false imaginations

The ghost was not looking to do Hamlet any good. The ghost had his own agenda. The ghost revealed to Hamlet the truth about the murder of Hamlet’s father. The ghost also told him who was to blame: “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life now wears his crown” (I.5. 38-39). The ghost ignited a rage inside of Hamlet. Revenge replaced the grief in Hamlet’s heart. The play does not reveal if the ghost is the devil or the ghost of Hamlet’s father. However I do not think that Hamlet’s father would have wanted to end another life to make up for his. The deaths that occur in the play could have been avoided if the ghost had never appeared. The truth would have come out eventually and maybe Hamlet would have a clear head by that time. If the ghost was the devil I am sure that he was pleased with what transpired in the play.

Hamlet says "the spirit that I have seen may be a devil, and the devil hath power t’assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps, out of my weakness and my melancholy, as he is very potent with such spirits, abuses me to damn me" (2.2.627-632). Fearing deception, Hamlet has doubts, which initiate his inaction. His hesitation is somewhat resolved in the form of a play. In order to test the truth of the ghost, Hamlet devises a scheme to perform a play to "catch the conscience of the King"(2.2.634), by reenacting a scene similar to the events recounted by the ghost about King Hamlet’s murder, in order to prove Claudius’ guilt. Here, Hamlet’s inaction results not only from his distrust of his father’s apparition, but from his distrust of his own senses. Had Hamlet trusted his father in death as he had in life, Hamlet’s life would never have resulted in such a tragic end.

In William Shakespeare's work Hamlet, Shakespeare uses the ghost of the deceased king, a character with only a brief presence, to play a significant role in the plot of the story as a whole in multiple ways. The first way Shakespeare uses the ghost of King Hamlet is by first using him to play a crucial role in the development of the characters in the play This is especially true regarding Hamlet. An example of the ghost influencing the development of the characters in the play is sending Hamlet into his descent into madness and furthering his complex character. Shakespeare does this by having the ghost inform Hamlet of his father’s murder. Secondly, Shakespeare uses the ghost to influence the theme of revenge and madness that develops in the play by using the ghost as a driving force

The tragic flaw of a human being is usually checked with the method he or she reacts with to the circumstances that life throws upon him or her. Contemporary society appears to be fixated on giving gatherings of people cases of such individuals who, in spite of the affliction of their lives, that still transcend. In fact, maybe nobody is more fit for indicating triumph over struggles than Sophocles and William Shakespeare. In both Oedipus and Hamlet, for example, the primary characters struggle with many obstacles and consequences and find themselves with unimaginable problems furthermore and are compelling to choose what the correct decision will be. This develops to Oedipus and Hamlet becoming motivated, courageous people and also becoming dishonest to themselves throughout the two books. Shakespeare and Sophocles’ plays show that sometimes when dealing with consequences and the obstacles there are different ways to react instead of leading to a tragedy. Oedipus and Hamlet’s motivation in dealing with problems is evident when the two primary characters want to find out the murderers of their father’s. Their courageous actions develop them towards having one goal, which was to kill the former King, and show courageous traits towards other people. They become dishonest to their themselves and is showed throughout the two books, which then causes misfortune for both of them in the end. Despite the resemblances of the two, Hamlet is in control of his activities, and he very

When Hamlet tells his friends of his plan to feign madness, he displays confidence that this is the right path. The audience, however, knows this is a mistake. Hamlet is influenced by an apparition of his deceased father. During the Elizabethan time period, it was considers normal to have visitations from the spirit life. The idea that human spirits manifested themselves as ghosts can be traced back to very ancient civilizations. The Roman Catholic Church taught that at death, the souls of those too good for hell and too bad for heaven were sent to Purgatory. Here they were purged of their sins by punishment, but might on occasion be allowed to return to earth to warn the living of the need for repentance. (Sommerville) . The real conflict is determining whether or not the ghost is innocent or a demonic being. Hamlet believes that the ghost is truly the