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Hamlet Oedipal Analysis

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In my opinion Hamlet is a peculiar subject from a psychoanalytical standpoint, especially in the event of attempting to pinpoint his oedipal tendencies, mainly from the fact that throughout the play it becomes evident that Hamlet has a number of three paternal figures, King Hamlet, Claudius and Yorick, the first two of which compete with him in two different oedipal triangles.
• King Hamlet
Starting from the hypothesis that Hamlet feels strong sexual attraction towards his mother, Gertrude, it becomes easy to deduce that his father constitutes one of the obstacles that prevents him from consummating his urges, the other being the awareness of the immoral aspect of having intercourse with his mother, especially considering his family’s regal position. Hamlet acknowledges his father’s superiority and the fact that he is the one that is in possession of Hamlet’s cathexis, and gradually develops feelings of hate towards him and wishes he would be removed. The immoral feelings towards his mother and his hateful feelings towards his father are repressed, and take a latent aspect. His outward behavior is manifested through admiration of his father. Once King Hamlet is killed by Claudius, Hamlet’s wish of getting rid of him is fulfilled, albeit not by his hands. Hamlet’s hatred of his father is …show more content…

In the second play, the Player King is killed by his rival by means of applying poison to his ear, akin to King Hamlet’s death by the hands of Claudius by having hebanon applied to his ear. Thus, the two plays are clear results of displacement of Hamlet’s own thoughts and information regarding his father’s

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