Hamlet's Oedipus Complex

Paper Summary:

This paper shows how the Oedipus complex theory can be applied to Hamlet, the main character of "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare and the issues that he faces concerning his mother and girlfriend. The paper shows that the intense rage that Hamlet projects onto Queen Gertrude (his mother), Ophelia (his girlfriend) and women in general compiles this version of Oedipus complex triangle. Hamlet finds himself strangely drawn to the act of matricide whether or not he blatantly expresses it, because he partially blames his mother for the circumstances leading up to his father's death, although he has a strange sexual affinity towards her. The paper describes how Hamlet releases his frustration about his father's death indirectly on Ophelia while raising to the surface strong undercurrents of an Oedipal complex with Gertrude as its center.

From the Paper:

"According to psychoanalysis, a male child's dual view of his mother as the Madonna and the whore (her relationship with the father) is not abnormal. Men have a preoccupation with virginity as well as an urge to engage in dirty activities with the whore. Unfortunately, Hamlet fails to detangle the complicated web he has mentally and emotionally intertwined them in, and he ends up causing them to incur mental and physical damage. His feelings about Polonius' death have much to do with using Ophelia as a vehicle for him to feel as though he forced the same agony of grief upon his mother that he had to endure when his father died."

More papers on Hamlet's Oedipus Complex:

• Argumentative Essay # 33733 : "The Oedipus Complex in Shakespeare's "Hamlet"
• Research Paper # 75052 : "Hamlet and the Oedipus Complex"
• Analytical Essay # 10942 : "Hamlet and the Oedipus Complex"

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