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Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries From Genuinely Interested Students 4.2.97: Top | Help
Dear Aardvark,
If you really want my two cents worth, I'll give it to ya.
I don't think Hamlet has an Oedipus complex. Furthermore, I don't
think even Oedipus has an Oedipus complex! I read part of Oedipus
Rex (the play) in my Classical Civ course (which, by the way, I
loved) and it wasn't Oedipus' fault that he married his mother!
Fate just turned against him; he had no way of knowing that his wife
was his mother.
Anyways, I don't see any evidence of the Oedipus complex in Hamlet.
The only thing Oedipus and Hamlet have in common is that their perception
of their parents was messed up. I can't understand how people can
say that Hamlet wanted to kill his father and marry his mother (which is a cut-and-dry version of the Oedipus complex). I
don't think his mother has much to do with anything. I understand that Hamlet was
upset with his mother (for betraying his father), but I don't think he wanted to keep her for himself
or anything.
I don't know if this is what you're looking for. This is just what I think.Posted by Steph on April 06, 1997 at 16:06:11
In Reply to "Oedipus Complex in Hamlet" posted by Aardvark on April 04, 1997 at 11:33:31
Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries From Genuinely Interested Students 4.2.97: Top | Help