A meditative and thoughtful probe into the human psyche (Hamlet - William Shakespeare)

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	Hamlet - William Shakespeare
Date:	14/07/09 (10 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Psychologically complex

Disadvantages: None

Literary critics frequently write that a text has an "unconscious". William Shakespeare's "Hamlet", written between 1599 and 1601, is perhaps the greatest literary instance of the unconscious permeating through the work pervasively. This makes it one of the most important literary works of all time, given our reliance on the studies of psychologists in the modern world.

The idea of the unconscious was first proposed by Sigmund Freud, who claimed that there are three levels of the mind - the conscious, the preconscious and the unconscious. The conscious is comprised of those thoughts at the present focus of our attention, the preconscious relates to ideas which can easily be retrieved from memory and brought into consciousness, whilst the unconscious pertains to potentially traumatic information which is either extremely difficult or almost impossible to bring into conscious awareness.

The unconscious of a text may be manifested in a myriad of different ways - it may manifest in the thematic principles of the text itself, through the symbols and motifs of a novel, for example. The unconscious may become prevalent through character analysis (although by no means be limited to this), whereby the author has projected their own fears and or desires onto a character who may in some aspect be intended to represent themselves. In this sense, comparison can be drawn between literature and the unconscious, as well as between literary criticism and psychoanalysis. If literature is parallel to one's mind, comprised of a number of complex layers, then literary criticism, in attempting to uncover meaning in literary texts, runs parallel to psychoanalysis, whereby one attempts to uncover meaning espoused by the unconscious. Finally, the unconscious of a text may even relate to likewise unconscious associations formed in the author's mind which manifest within readings of the book, unknown to themselves, although these readings tend to be decidedly more subjective and devoid of any form of corroboration from the authors themselves.

William Shakespeare's Hamlet has been widely discussed and revered for its rich and complex psychological undercurrent, particularly in relation to the unconscious, underlying drives and desires of its eponymous lead character. In initially examining Hamlet, Freud himself stated that "the play is built up on Hamlet's hesitations over fulfilling the task of revenge that is assigned to him; but its text offers no reasons or motives for these hesitations". However, following further research, Freud recanted this, attesting that Hamlet had an "Oedipal desire for his mother and the subsequent guilt preventing him from murdering the man [Claudius] who has done what he unconsciously wanted to do".

The Oedipus complex is said to stem from, in infancy, where young children form an attachment to their mother, and often after witnessing the "primal scene" (that is, their mother and father engaging in sexual intercourse), become jealous of the attention that the father receives from the mother. Named after the mythical Greek king who unknowingly married his mother after killing his father, said complex becomes repressed in regular development by the age of five. However, failure to resolve the complex, through an inability to identify with the father, can cause the child to become perpetually fixated at this stage.

Support for the Oedipal interpretations of Hamlet lie within his delay in killing Claudius. It can be said that the actions of his mother (Gertrude) and Claudius, in marrying before Hamlet himself has had time to process his father's death, increase Hamlet's own love for his father, and moreover, his need for vengeance. Thus, with Claudius replacing his father, Hamlet comes to feel that killing Claudius would be akin to killing himself, who, in an unconscious, Oedipal sense, is the "rightful owner" to his mother following his father's death. Opposed by his own repressed desires, Hamlet comes to realise that he is, in fact, no better a man that the sinner who he is to punish.

However, Hamlet is not the only character subject to psychoanalysis - Ophelia also can be examined, instead under Carl Jung's female counterpart to the Oedipus complex. The Electra complex deals with the attachment of young females, who supposedly wish to dispose of their mother in order to form a relationship with their father. Even despite Freud's decision to refute this theory, it has remained a popular counterpoint to the Oedipus complex. Ophelia appears to suffer from great madness following the death of her father, Polonius, who she had hoped would become her lover, this madness triggered by her unassailable, unrequited love for him, which is suddenly extinguished in his death, instead driving her to insanity.

Above perhaps any other instance, Hamlet is thus an example of the unconscious of a text existing within the psyche of a number of characters, rather than pervading through the spirit of the story, or even through its themes and motifs. Shakespeare endeavours to provide a psychological bearing to the machinations and subsequent actions of his characters, and had he not done so in relation to Hamlet, one would believe Hamlet to be insane. Rather, Shakespeare ensures to elicit the logic in Hamlet's acts, bringing with them an air of sanity in wake of Hamlet's supposed insanity. The emblematic, allegorical meaning of Hamlet's acts form the latent, underlying explanation for the unconscious motivation towards his ultimate acts. Thus, Hamlet, whether aware of it or not, has justified his seemingly insane actions. The unconscious of a text, in this instance, pertains to the underlying motivations of the characters within it, and what causes them to act the way in which they do.

Hamlet is a revolutionary and near-universally revered work, and sits among Shakespeare's best works. Its cerebral undercurrent, which was uncommon at the time, has ensures its staying power with a modern audience. Simply fantastic.

Summary: The most cerebral piece of prime literature