He cannot bring himself to murder a guilty man and claim the throne that is rightfully his. For centuries, scholars have debated what could have caused this moment Of hesitation in Hamlet against his uncle, Claudia.
Sigmund Freud, the famous psychoanalyst of the late 19th and early 20th century, suggested in The Interpretation of Dreams that William Shakespearean marvelous character, Hamlet, suffered from what Freud named “ Oedipus Complex,” a disorder in which a male holds an incestuous desire for his mother and therefore resents his father.
Freud believed that “ Hamlet is able to do anything but take vengeance upon the man who did away with his father and has taken his father’s place with his other-? the man who shows him in realization the repressed desires of his own childhood” (163-164). At the moment when Hamlet could have taken revenge against Claudia, Freud believed that Hamlet’s repressed childhood desires resurfaced.
This causes Hamlet to hesitate-? how could he kill someone who has done the same thing that Hamlet subconsciously wishes to While Fraud’s hypothesis initially found popular support and influenced some of his followers, Hamlets hesitation in Act 3 scene 3 and his actions and motivations throughout Shakespearean Hamlet can be attributed to meeting more verifiable than Fraud’s “ Oedipus Boggiest Complex’ theory, for Fraud’s speculations about the subconscious mind cannot be proven or disproved.
By analyzing Hamlet’s words and actions, we can prove that Hamlet’s motivations comes from a deep love and reverence for his father and a desire to uphold his fathers reputation. From Hamlet’s first moments upon the stage, he shows true allegiance to his father. Although King Hamlet died less than two months prior to the start of the play, Hamlet is the only one who still mourns for the beloved king. Meanwhile, Hamlet’s mother has remarried to Hamlet’s uncle. During a time when the country should mourn for its fallen ruler, they celebrate a new marriage and king.
In Hamlet’s first soliloquy, he shows his dismay regarding this ironic situation: “ But two months dead – nay, not so much, not two – / So excellent a king, that was to this / Hyperfine to a satyr, so loving to my mother… ” (Ham 1.
2. 138-140). Hamlet showers praise on his father. He compares his father to Hyperfine, “ a summit of god-like perfections, beauty, and wisdom combined,” whereas Claudia is a satyr, a “ hairy, horned, and lustful, a bestial creature of mere appetite” (Kahn 135).
He cannot understand how his mother could have chosen Claudia so soon after King Hamlet’s death, especially since he treated her so well, not even “ better[inning] the winds of heaven / Visit[inning] her face too roughly’ (Ham 1 . 2.
141-142). Before any knowledge of Classis’s crime, Hamlet expresses partiality towards his father and a repulsion towards his uncle. Is this such a surprise? King Hamlet died less than two months before the events of Shakespearean play. Hamlet would obviously still mourn for his father, and would be upset that no one else joins him in mourning for this great king.
Furthermore, his mother-? possibly the person who could relate to Hamlet the best in this situation-? has already moved on to another man-? the kings brother. Hamlet’s frustration and rage towards these events comes as no Boggiest surprise. In fact, it would be more shocking if Hamlet was not upset about the situation in which he finds himself. Ultimately, Hamlet decides that it must be a fault in Gertrude rather than King Hamlet, exclaiming, “ frailty, thy name is woman” (Ham 1 . 2. 146)! Gertrude has let her son down.
Instead of comforting her mourning child, she neglects him n order to remarry Claudia one month later. She has fallen from a garden that was well-tended by King Hamlet to an “ unwedded” garden that Claudia now rules over (Dolman 17). She should be the one person who still offers comfort and support to Hamlet during this difficult period of grief for him. She unfortunately provides no help though.
And when he appears in King Classis’s court wearing all black, she commands of him: Do not for ever with thy Vaild lids Seek for thy noble father in the dust.
Thou knows ‘ its common; all that lives must die, Passing through nature to eternity. (Ham 1. 2.
0-73) Common advice regarding grief around Shakespearean time typically addressed the mortality of all humans and the uselessness of grieving forever (Young 82), Gertrude exaggerates by telling Hamlet not to mourn forever. Furthermore, the context that she gives this lecture hardly seems appropriate. In front of Classis’s court, She tells him to “ cast thy knighted color off ‘(Ham 1 . 2. 68). Perhaps Hamlet would receive her advice had it been a private conversation.
Then, Claudia voices his opinion. After reiterating Gertrude advice about the mortality Of all people, Claudia asks Hamlet to throw to earth / this unavailing woe, and think of us / as of a father” (Ham 1. 2. 106-107). While Hamlet tries to give remembrance to his father, Claudia tells him to stop his useless grief, forget Old Hamlet, and think of Claudia as his new father. Surely, this Boggiest would convince Hamlet to adjust his perspective and actions.
No, of course not. This kind of language directed at a grief-stricken son would only cause resentment.
Claudia could never truly replace Old Hamlet’s place in Hamlet’s heart. It is no wonder then that Hamlet degrades his uncle shortly afterwards, lamming that Claudia is “ no more like my father / than to Hercules” (Ham 1. 2.
152-153). Instead of forgetting his father, Hamlet spends time ruminating about how great his father was, especially when compared to Claudia. When the Ghost finally does come to speak with Hamlet, Hamlet is more than willing to listen to the accusations against Claudia. The Ghost refers to Claudia as “ that incestuous, that adulterate beast” (Ham 1.
. 41 showing that Claudia has not only taken his sister-in-law as a wife, but he initiated this process while Gertrude was still married to Hamlet (Kahn 133). Hamlet realizes that “ a mighty wrong has been done to a noble king; as he is noble, so must his anger and his cause be great” (Kahn 133). Knowing what has been done to his father (cuckoldry, murder, and an usurpation of the throne), Hamlet must defend Old Hamlet’s honor, “ but insofar as part of that wrong is cuckoldry, his nobility is diminished, his anger impotent, and his cause an embarrassment’ (Kahn 133).
This knowledge disrupts Hamlet’s idealized vision of his father as superior to Claudia, for Gertrude chose to marry Claudia rather than to mourn King Hamlet, and the Ghost implies that Gertrude may have committed adultery with Claudia. Maybe King Hamlet was not as glorious as Hamlet had thought. But Hamlet cannot allow that image to be tainted; he must defend his fathers memory. Taking the Ghost’s last commandment, “ Adieu, adieu, adieu.
Remember me” (Ham 1. 5. 91 to heart, Hamlet repeats the commandment three times, promising that ‘ thy commandment all alone shall live / within the book and volume of my brain” (Ham 1. .
102-103). Boggiest Despite this pledge, Hamlet procrastinates the revenge of his father for another four acts. Why does Hamlet not confront Claudia immediately if he lives the Ghost’s tale? After all, when questioned by Horopito directly following the encounter with the Ghost, Hamlet does claim that “ it is an honest ghost” (Ham 1. 5. 138).
First, remember that Hamlet is the only one other than Claudia and perhaps Gertrude with an awareness of Classis’s guilt. Therefore, an attack on Claudia might allow Hamlet to enact revenge, but it would also be a death sentence and damnation for Hamlet.
Hamlet has no physical proof of Classis’s crime, and Hamlet is not likely to get many opportunities alone with a king who usually has multiple guards around him (Reed 179). He must wait until he has indisputable proof of the king’s guilt before he can make a public accusation or execution.
Furthermore, Hamlet does not fully believe the Ghost tells the truth. Indeed, Hamlet does state that he believes that the Ghost was honest with him, but, in context, Hamlet had just endured an undoubtedly emotional and stressful conversation when he says that.
Whenever Hamlet leaves the Ghost’s presence and begins to reclaim his thoughts and relax again, we can assume that Hamlet would slip back into the predominant “ Protestant attitude, which denied the reality of ghosts” (Reed 180). Observing the events before Hamlet leaves to talk with the Ghost, Horopito asks: What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord, Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff That beetles o’er his base into the sea, And there assume some other horrible form, Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason And draw you into madness? Think of it. (Ham 1. 4.
9-74) Boggiest Horopito believes that this ghost is not a benign ghost, let alone Hamlet’s father. Instead, he sees it as an evil spirit that only wishes to harm Hamlet. This belief aligns with the typical beliefs about ghosts during Shakespearean ay: “ Spirits, according to both Catholics and Protestants, were more likely to be evil spirits than the purgatorial or heavenly beings they claimed to be” (Spaniard 459). Hamlet agrees, contemplating that the Ghost “ may be a devil” who “ out of my weakness and my melancholy, / as he is very potent with such spirits, / abuses me to damn me” (Ham 2. .
586, 588-590). We can see that Hamlet does not fully trust the Ghost which further explains why he has not acted on the information given to him. But he has not forgotten his father. He hatches a plan to validate the Ghost’s words; using the players that have arrived in Denmark, Hamlet writes a piece that would produce a reaction from Claudia if he indeed has murdered King Hamlet. The “ Mouse trap” succeeds in producing an emotion in Claudia, enough proof for Hamlet to proceed with his own revenge plot.
We now arrive at Hamlet’s perfect opportunity to avenge his father’s death.
There should be nothing holding him back from unleashing all of the rage that has built up inside him. Why does Hamlet stop himself? As stated previously, Freud believed that Hamlet realizes that he wishes to have done what Claudia actually did, making Hamlet a hypocrite if he kills Claudia (163-164). However, the text proves otherwise. Looking over a vulnerable, praying Claudia, Hamlet nearly enacts revenge, but upon consideration of the circumstances, asks: But in our circumstance and course of thought, ‘ Its heavy with him.
And am then revenged, To take him in the purging of his soul, When he is fit and seasoned for his passage? Boggiest No! (Ham 3. 3. 83-87) With a clear insight to Hamlet’s thought process, we see that his hesitation here results from an assumption that Claudia would go to heaven if he died at that moment, whereas Claudia killed King Hamlet at a moment of nannies and sin. Hamlet does not see this as just; he would rather catch Claudia in a moment of unpreserved and “ then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven, / and that his soul may be as damned and black / as hell, whereto it goes” (Ham 3. . 9395).
Hamlet has no Oedipus Complex here. Rather, he hesitates because of a loyalty to his father; he sees it unfit that Claudia should enter heaven when King Hamlet cannot. Reverting back to Hamlet’s initial grief, Hamlet considers Claudia “ no more like my father / than I to Hercules” (Ham 1. 2.
152-153). Even when Hamlet hesitates, it originates from a deep loyalty and desire to honor his father. Hamlet’s hesitation does not mean that Hamlet is not angry about what Claudia has done though. In fact, Hamlet is furious.
Soon after discovering the truth about his father’s death, Hamlet claims that he could “ drink hot blood / and do such bitter business as the day / would quake to look on” (Ham 3. 2.
373-375). Hamlet then channels this rage towards his mother, who has been ignorant of Classis’s crimes up until this point.. In a plan to confront Gertrude, Hamlet resolves to “ be cruel, not unnatural. / will speak gaggers to her, but use none” (Ham 3. 2378-379).
He wants to expose Classis’s true character to Gertrude, hoping to shame her for her choice of a husband.
When Hamlet confronts Gertrude about Claudia, he eventually reveals the truth about Claudia, calling him a “ murderer and a villain” (Ham 3. 4. 97), but he continually berates Gertrude for forgetting Old Hamlet and marrying Claudia. Again, Hamlet compares his father to Hyperfine (Ham 3. 4.
SO) and Claudia to a “ mildewed ear, / blasting his wholesome brother” (Ham 3. 4. 64-65). Hamlet talks of his father throughout this conversation with Boggiest Gertrude-? a memory that encourages him to expose Claudia for the murderous, adulterer that he truly is.
In the middle of this confrontation, Hamlet discovers that someone has been spying on them.
He rips his sword out of its sheathe, exclaiming “ How now! A rat? Dead for a ducat, dead” (Ham 34. 23)! He kills Polonium in one thrust. Hamlet shows himself here to be more than just a man of thought and contemplation. He is also a man Of action, killing a spy without any questions. Although this may seem strikingly different from the man just one scene prior, Hamlet does have a logical reason for his actions.
Polonium surprised Hamlet which caused a jerk reaction, whereas Hamlet had ample time to consider his actions as he snuck up behind Claudia earlier. Hamlet also saw Claudia in the midst of cleansing himself of his sins, but he caught Polonium in a treacherous act. As Hamlet identified before, he has no qualms about killing a sinful person. Furthermore, Hamlet has already expressed the dangerous things he could do that night. So, it is no surprise that Hamlet-? in the middle of a heated discussion with Gertrude-? would act rashly when he discovers someone has spied on their conversation.
His first action after ailing Polonium is to ask if he has killed Claudia (Ham, 3.
4. 26). After all, who else would likely be in the queen’s closet other than the king? Hamlets slaying of Polonium is not a drastic disconnect from Hamlets character, but rather a culmination of Hamlets character up until this point. He has gone from a man deeply saddened by his fathers death, to an investigator of a murder, and now to an avenger out to strike down his father’s killer. Just as the argument between Hamlet and Gertrude reaches its peak, the Ghost presents itself to Hamlet for the second time.
Shakespearean use of the Ghost here seems such more peculiar than the first manifestation of the Ghost. When the Ghost first appears in Hamlet, it can be seen and heard by multiple people and has a clear purpose: to tell Hamlet about how his father Boggiest truly died. In this case, the Ghost only appears to Hamlet and comes at an inconvenient time when it did not help Hamlet enact revenge, protect himself, or convince Gertrude of Classis’s guilt (Spaniard 470). Instead, Gertrude just thinks that Hamlet has truly gone insane. However, I believe the ghost does serve a purpose by appearing here.
