Psychoanalytic Theory In Hamlet

Several emotions engulf Shakespeare’s Hamlet throughout the play, the most famous being Hamlet’s own emotional state. His madness, triggered by his incestuous uncle, has led several scholars to explore the psychological causes of his madness. This research into Hamlet’s madness will explore his madness in comparison to other characters, the psychoanalytical studies behind his madness, and defining whether his madness is genuine or another play within the play.

Hamlet had a lot of things in his life gone wrong. For an example his father (the king at the time) was murdered by his own brother the new king. At the end of the book his mother and ophelia end up dead to. Hamlet was obsessed with his father being murdered and tried to seek revenge upon his murderer. At the end of the book hamlet ended up killing polonius because he thought it was Claudius (the new king). He was putting other people in harm's way too make claudius too confess. Hamlet has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) because of depression, self-destructive behavior, and unwanted memories of the trauma.

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince Hamlet serves as one of the most multi-faceted characters in the entire play with critics often deeming his personality “paradoxical”. Ultimately, Hamlet provides the audience with the epitomy of internal contrast and instability by rapidly transitioning through periods of caution and rash action, introversion and extroversion and calculation and spontaneity.

Hamlet has been praised and revered for centuries as one of William Shakespeare's best known and most popular tragedies. Based on its popularity, critics alike have taken various viewpoints and theories in order to explain Hamlet's actions throughout the play. The psychoanalytic point of view is one of the most famous positions taken on Hamlet.

Shakespeare’s character, Hamlet, is known for his indecisive personality. It is a trait that humanizes Hamlet in the sense that every man is flawed. However, this feature is Hamlet’s main

Hamlet is as much a story of emotional conflict, paranoia, and self-doubt as it is one of revenge and tragedy. The protagonist, Prince Hamlet of Denmark, is instructed by his slain father’s ghost to enact vengeance upon his uncle Claudius, whose treacherous murder of Hamlet’s father gave way to his rise to power. Overcome by anguish and obligation to avenge his father’s death, Hamlet ultimately commits a number of killings throughout the story. However, we are not to view the character Hamlet as a sick individual, but rather one who has been victimized by his own circumstances.

Rothman expresses that “Freud thought that prudery and denial had for centuries prevented critics from acknowledging the play’s propulsive undercurrent, which, he believed, the new psychoanalytic vocabulary made it possible to acknowledge. “The conflict in ‘Hamlet’ is so effectively concealed,” he wrote, “that it was left to me to unearth it” (Rothman 5). However, it is important to note that although this literary analysis and theology is a valid breakthrough in how one views and acknowledges Hamlet, it is by no means an all-explanatory guide to the soul existence that is Hamlet. Rothman mistakes the Oedipus Complex (Freud theology regarding Hamlet) as the root of the play, arguing “the Oedipus complex provides the definitive interpretation of ‘Hamlet”. It is naive and arrogant to assume one definitive analysis technique (in this case psychoanalysis) as the majority of the play; in reality, it is the infinite number of analyzations spoken about by an infinite number of critics that make up the true meaning of Hamlet. In simpler terms, the true meaning is the decades of diversely collective thoughts, analysis, and ideas presented as the play’s

Hamlet, the eponymous hero of Shakespeare’s greatest work, descends swiftly into madness and paranoia after the murder of his father and the realization of his mother’s true, morally reprehensible, nature. As a result of these new responsibilities and extreme circumstances, Hamlet diverges from his usual, logical thinking into paranoia and over analysis, a condition that prevents him from trusting anyone. Hamlet, having been born a prince, is, for the first time, forced to make his own decisions after he learns of the true means of his father’s death. Another contributing factor to his madness is the constant probing of others into Hamlet’s sanity. These factors all contribute to Hamlets delay, and that delay contributes to the tragic

His diminishing outlook on women is, in fact, not the only attribute that affects Hamlet throughout the play. There are various conclusions in academic journals regarding Hamlet's mental state, all of them agreeing or refuting the theory that Hamlet is mad throughout the play. Despite having sufficient evidence, the analyzation of this play is subjective and no definitive conclusion has been made. Nonetheless, one opinion remains to be the most popular: Hamlet is not mad, yet encounters various feelings regarding mental and emotional health.

     When we first meet Hamlet, he is a sad, dark, loathsome figure; the loss of his father and the whoring of his mother have upset him indefinitely. Like a ticking time bomb, Hamlet’s noticeable temper reflects the storm of emotions and thoughts brewing in his head, and then like a catalyst, his meeting with the Ghost of King Hamlet brings his anger to a boil. With revenge in mind, Hamlet plans to fake his madness so that he may be free to pursue his father’s killer. Everyone, except his close friend Horatio, seems convinced that he is mad. Claudius however, fearful that someone will discover his evil deed, has also had his perceptions heightened by his guilt and he experiences chronic paranoia throughout the

In this paper I will be analyzing and discussing how these four soliloquies reflect changes in Hamlet’s mental state; his

When a text explores challenging and enduring ideas that many people can relate to, it can become more valued over time and help further societes understanding of these ideas. These ideas have been expressed through Shakespeare’s characters. Shakespeare’s characterisation has enabled the Freudian psychoanalytical theory to be applied to the characters as if they were real people and this is a reason for the text’s endurance. The play Hamlet was written by William Shakespeare and published in the year 1623. However, the play was first performed in England during the year 1601. It explores many crucial and pertinent ideas relevant to the furthering of society. The desire for revenge is one that many people feel and is a direct response from the id in Freud’s theory. The overwhelming pressure from authoritarian figures can lead to suicidal feelings and this is a result of the superego. Self-awareness allows one to achieve the desires of the id successfully in society, forming the ego. These enduring ideas explored can create a text that becomes increasingly more valuable with time and is able to be related to Freud’s psychoanalytical theory.

In doing so, one will come to the conclusion that Hamlet is driven by forces other than what is obvious to the reader, as well as Hamlet himself. Given this example, one must denounce the assumption that Hamlet is aware of the forces that motivate him, and understand that Hamlet’s true motivation is unconscious This unconscious force is the true reason behind Hamlet’s mysterious behavior. In naming this force, one must look beneath the surface of Hamlet’s own level of consciousness, and into what Hamlet himself is consciously unaware. The key to understanding Hamlet lies in the realization of the unconscious energy that provokes him to action and inaction. By channeling into Hamlet’s unconscious, providing Freudian psychoanalytical perspectives, Hamlet’s true unconscious motivation will be uncovered, and the mystery of Hamlet will be silenced.

This essay will discuss several literary criticisms of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. After skimming through several articles, I ended up with four peer-reviewed journal articles, each a different critical perspectives of the play: feminist, psychoanalytical/freudian, moral, and new historicism. My previous studies of Hamlet, as well as my rereading of the play this semester, has collectively given me a general knowledge of the text. My familiarity of the play made it easier for me to decipher the academic journals and see the connections each critic made with the play.

Hamlet is another one of William Shakespeare plays that ends in a tragedy, the play is about Hamlet, a prince from Denmark. Hamlets father was killed by Hamlets uncle, Hamlet wants to avenge his father’s death. Like most of Shakespeare’s plays Hamlet ends as a tragedy, everyone dyeing except Horatio, Hamlets friend, and the kingdom ends up in the power of Norway. According to Sigmund Freud’s the three structure of the human mind are the id, the superego and the ego. The id is the pleasure seeking impulses we have. The superego is a part of the brain that makes one follow the rules. Lastly the ego is ones personality and is a mixture of both the id and superego. The id , superego and ego as well as the Oedipus complex are all shown through different aspect in the play Hamlet and can explain why Hamlet acts a certain way.