Hamlet And Oedipus Complex What are the arguments for Hamlet suffereing from the Oedipus Complex and what are the proofs for this? posted by T (Abraham) on 2004-07-21 17:41:56 last updated 2004-07-21 17:41:56
Oedipus Oedipus is a character in Greek mythology who killed his father and married his mother (he didn't know it). The play, Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles, is a good introduction to this myth. Sigmund Freud used the Oedipus myth as an archetype for a man who has an excessive love for his mother and hatred for his father. Freud may have used Shakespeare's Hamlet as an example of this. In any case, Hamlet has been held up as an example. There is no proof--and precious little evidence--that Hamlet is Oedipal. If Shakespeare (who lived centuries before Freud) believed that his Hamlet suffered from any medical condition, it was melancholia--an excess of black bile which was then considered to be an actual medical diagnosis. posted by Harry (Harry Connors) on 2004-07-21 22:16:26 last updated 2004-07-21 22:16:26
Book There is a famous book on your subject by Ernest Jones, a friend of Freud and a psychoanalyst, titled "Hamlet and Oedipus". If you get the Laurence Olivier movie (video) of Hamlet, you will see the influence of this approach. I think it has some validity, but as with most criticism of Shakespeare plays, it is overdone. Hamlet's thoughts about his mother, and conversation with her, are certainly unusual. Don't forget, though, Shakespeare wrote long before Freud was born. posted by Dave J on 2004-07-24 05:48:20 last updated 2004-07-24 05:48:20
Don't confuse Sophocles with Freud A further comment. Oedipus, the character in Sophocles' play Oedipus Tyranus, did not have an Oedipus complex as described in Freudian theory. Sophocles' Oedipus had no idea that the woman he loved and married was his mother. He completely believed that Merope of Corinth was his mother, and he had no reported sexual interest in her. Freud named his Oedipus Complex both because the catchy name referred to a legendary son -- mother incest, and more significantly because Freud thought that the popularity of Sophocles' play was rooted in a subconscious interest of the male audience in the subject of son -- mother sexual attraction. But this is Freud's interpretation of the audience appeal of a subconscious attraction in the play. posted by Dave J on 2004-07-24 06:04:22 last updated 2004-07-24 06:04:22
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