Oedipus Complex in Hamlet Essay

When King Hamlet passes away everyone seemed to want to just forget about him and act like he never existed, including Queen Gertrude. That would explain why Hamlet really wants to get revenge on Claudius so bad. He wants his father to still have some sort of legacy and not just be thrown away like a piece of trash. Since Claudius became king he just shows his true self more and more which makes Hamlet angrier and his sense for revenge stronger.

Differently to what is thought nowadays, the Oedipus complex described by Freud goes beyond just the son 's desire to have sex with his mother. The Oedipus complex includes the teenager 's psychosexual idea of feeling jealousy, anger, and above all, competing with his father. Besides, Freud’s theory emphasizes that boys select their mother as their principal object of desire, and subconsciously wish to usurp or even murder their fathers in order to gain exclusive possession of her and become their mothers ' lover.

Hamlet has many problems dealing with the fact that his mother married his uncle less than two months after the death of his father. Hamlet sees his mother's remarriage as disgusting and sees murdering Claudius as a way of freeing his mother of an incestuous marriage as well as avenging his father. Hamlet and his mother's relationship is also shown as more sexual than the traditional mother son relationship because of Hamlet's long and private conversation with his mother, as well as his rivalry toward Claudius for his mother's attentions. Hamlet makes numerous sexually allusions. The "closet scene" in Act 3 Scene 4, proves to be essential in understanding Hamlet's and Gertrude's relationship because the

Hamlet doesn’t think it would be just to kill Claudius now because it would be basically sending him “to heaven” which Hamlet does not want. He wants to take what he perceives as the nobler path of catching Claudius in sin and send him to eternal damnation, where Hamlet’s father supposedly roams. To what seems like noble justice to Hamlet leads him to continuously postpone his revenge. Hamlet is not interested in making himself king, rather he is more interested in killing Claudius the, truthfully, unchristian way. Hamlet does not want Claudius to repent and absolve of his sins. Although Hamlet calls Claudius a “villain”, it makes the reader ponder if the executioner of the villain is always the “hero”. So far in the play, Hamlet does not show any characteristics of a traditional hero as he broods and shows temper tantrums. Using his false sense of righteousness, Hamlet waits for the right chance to exact his noble “revenge”.

The Oedipus complex refers to the thoughts some men have regarding their mother or maternal figures. Many scenes from the play can prove Hamlet did have these thoughts about his mother, such as acts one and three. If the reader knows what he or she is looking for, then these signs can be easily spotted. The story of Oedipus Rex is an

According to the bible, if you repent of your sins you will be forgiven and go to heaven when you die, Hamlet believes this and that is why he does not kill Claudius in this scene. Another reason he does not kill his Claudius based on the reason above, he will not give Claudius the glory of

In the book of Hamlet there were many opportunities to take his revenge but Hamlet found reasons not to. He always found ways to procrastinate until the end of the book. It came to a point where he was a danger to everyone around him. If he would have killed Claudius the first chance he got many lives could have been spared. Hamlet has proved throughout the story he had difficulty taking his revenge by killing King Claudius.

Hamlet is not only angered with the fact of his father’s death, but also with his mother’s decision to marry Claudius. Devastated by his mother’s decision to marry so soon after her husband’s death, Hamlet becomes skeptical about women in general. He shows a particular obsession with what he perceives to be a connection with female sexuality and moral corruption. He almost develops hatred towards women because of his mother’s decision. This hatred occurs and is shown with his relationship with Ophelia. He urges Ophelia to go to a nunnery rather than experience the dishonesty of sexuality. This hinders Hamlet from experiencing a love that is really needed at this time of his loss. One can say that this is another flaw, which Hamlet is unaware of.

So Hamlet had plenty of reason to murder Claudius but what took him so long? He had the inner battle of good vs. evil. Hamlet’s ‘good side’ was telling him that no good would come of this. Hamlet believes that things should be naturally good, and that people's motives should be fair. Therefore, he has an immense deal of difficulty in coming to terms with all of the evil that is around him in a damage world. As Hamlet said himself, "'Tis an unweeded garden that grows to seed; Things rank and gross in nature possess it merely" (I, ii, 139-141). He was infuriated with the fact that his mother didn’t wait a month to marry his Uncle. So he has every reason to do it. But still no action has taken place.

In scene IV, iii, 92-95 "nay, but to live in the rank sweat of an enseamed bed, stewed in corruption, honeying and making love over the nasty sty" he's talking about her sex life to some it may he's just saying it out of anger but I see it a gross and he imagines his mom in bed he has some desire some curiosity, be for real what son talks about his mom like that? Incest ones that’s who. In scene IV, iii, 168-171 he's telling his mom to not have sex with her husband so I'll make it easier for her to say no next time. My opinion why does a son care about who his mom is having sex with? It's not like she going around she's married, it seems to me that he comes off jealous because he has some lust for her, he's so obsessed with his mom's sex life yeah, she's married with his uncle, I mean to start talking about her sheets wet with "corruption" by the love they are making just think about that. "Mother, for the love of grace, lay not that flattering unction to your soul that’s not your trespass but my madness speaks, it will but skin and film the ulcerous place whilst rank corruption, mining all within infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven" (III, iv, 146-151) Hamlet is showing resentment towards his mom

Hamlet’s distaste towards Claudius and his obsession towards his mother can be seen when he states, “Why, she would hang on him/ As if increase of appetite had grown/ By what it fed on,” (Shakespeare 1.2.147-149). This quote can be found in Hamlet’s Act 1, Scene 2 soliloquy, in which he laments about his mother’s new marriage to Claudius. In this quote particularly, Hamlet is distressing over the fact that Hamlet’s mother has moved on quickly after his father’s death and seemed to only grow closer to Claudius the more time she spent with him. To the reader, this may not seem so unusual as situations like those often occurred in the time of Shakespeare as a way for one person to gain royal power. Hamlet, however, fails to see the logical explanation and instead focuses solely on the distress he feels over his mother’s relationship with Claudius.

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

Even when he discovers Claudius' guilt, Hamlet finds himself bound by conscience. He comes across Claudius in the King's chamber, but as Claudius is in prayer (or so Hamlet perceives him to be), he cannot bring himself to kill the King, lest Claudius meet with a better end than his own father:

Claudius is only acting out what Hamlet secretly wants to do, take his father’s place as his mother’s lover. This would explain why Hamlet puts off the revenge instead of carrying it out immediately after seeing his father’s ghost. It would also provide a reason for Hamlet’s later insanity.

Though Hamlet is observed as an emotional character, there is no evidence that he suffered from an Oedipus complex. He loves his mother, Gertrude, but he is certainly not falling in love with her, neither is he sexually attracted to her in any way. Hamlet admires her because