Shakespeare “Hamlet” and Freud
Must I remember? why, she would hang on him,As if increase of appetite had grownBy what it fed on: and yet, within a month–Let me not think on’t–Frailty, thy name is woman!–A little month, or ere those shoes were oldWith which she follow’d my poor father’s body,Like Niobe, all tears:–why she, even she–O, God! a beast, that wants discourse of reason,Would have mourn’d longer–married with my uncle,My father’s brother, but no more like my fatherThan I to Hercules: within a month (Shakespeare, Hamlet)The psychoanalytic theory developed by Sigmund Freud talks about the unconscious deeds one does shaped by the psychosexual development.
In the theory, Freud suggests that the spontaneous things that happen in the mind of that human develop individual behavior. The psychosexual developments include the love that comes about in the families. Oedipus complex is one such relationship where a boy tends to love his mother and detest his father and the girl likes her father and dislikes her mother (Waugh 2002 pg200). The feelings due to Oedipus complex are unconscious and tend to affect ones deeds so much. In the play Hamlet, Hamlet suffers from the Oedipus complex and this greatly his actions to the point of delaying to avenge his father’s death.
Hamlet was sorry that his mother had deserted his father King Hamlet as the royal wife to the Crown. Equally, Hamlet was expecting to become the King after his father with his mother Gertrude as the Queen mother; however, when Claudius took Gertrude away from Prince Hamlet, Oedipus complex states that Prince Hamlet must have felt unsecure for his mother deserted their family and therefore, he felt an urge to kill Claudius in order to regain his mother from his uncle. Hamlet is very angry about his mother’s behavior to unite with Claudius; in fact he detests the incestuous marriage and questions the credibility of female passion since he expected his mother to be already done with sexual feelings but the opposite is true. Probably, Prince Hamlet conceived the inherent thought that Queen Gertrude rejected King Hamlet because he was not sexual satisfying her like Claudius; consequently, the relationship between Gertrude and Claudius must have developed earlier. Hamlet advises his beloved Ophelia to take into a convent to avoid the feminine trap of greeting children for other men; in reference to the relationship between Claudius and Hamlet.
However, Prince Hamlet delayed to kill his father’s killer because he felt a pity for his mother who was quite pleased as a woman with Claudius than King Hamlet. Psychoanalytic theory supports Hamlet’s cynical and sensitive sexual feelings about the relationship between his mother Gertrude and Claudius a vis-a-vis King Hamlet. The theory suggests that a person has some unconscious desires that affect the identity of every individual. Hamlet’s uncle kills King Hamlet and takes Hamlet’s mother to have sexual relations with her. According to the psychoanalytic theory, any boy would have the unconscious wishes to possess his mother especially when the father is not there to make sure she waits for the father only. Hamlet being a boy had the unconscious wish as a minor to control the queen; possibly prince Hamlet disliked his father when he was a boy and was attached to his mother judging form Hamlet’s reserved strength to face Gertrude and condemn her incestuous acts (Freud 1965 pg.
296). Hamlet’s uncle fulfilled the unconscious wishes by killing King Hamlet and taking the King’s wife to be his sexual partner. Hamlet so restrained from killing his uncle, the now king, because he was trying to beat the Oedipus complex whereby Prince Hamlet is confused between who Gertrude loves between the his father and Claudius. Furthermore, his mother seemed to love Claudius more and Hamlet subconsciously wished not to interrupt his mother’s joyous life since she won’t wait for King Hamlet to be forgotten before marrying again. As a result, Prince Hamlet was afraid of killing the enemy out of concern for his a mother; Hamlet feared watching his mother become a widow twice if he killed her new lover. Nevertheless, Hamlet obeys the shadow of his father by killing Claudius only when his mother was killed.
From the quotation, Hamlet describes her mother as having too much sexual desire that she was too quick to marry her husband brother before even a moth was over after King Hamlet had died. The position Hamlet shows to his mother’s desire is a result of trying to beat the Oedipus thing he was suffering from. The phrase it shows that Hamlet is apprehensive of his mother’s passion as he recognizes that his mother has too much sexual appetite that is the sole reason for the delay. Conclusion Hamlet unconsciously has feelings for his mother called the Oedipus complex, explained by the psychoanalytic theory. In trying to suppress the Oedipus complex Hamlet delays seeking revenge for his father’s murder.
“We live our lives, do whatever we do, and then we sleep—it’s as simple and ordinary as that. A few jump out of windows or immerse themselves or take pills; more die by accident; and most of us, the vast majority, are slowly devoured by some disease, or, if we’re very fortunate, by time itself. There is just this for consolation: an hour here or there when our lives seem, against all odds and expectations, to burst open and give us everything we have ever imagined, though everyone but children (and maybe even they) knows others, far darker and more difficult, will inevitably follow these hours. Still, we cherish the city, the morning; we hope, more than anything, for more. Heaven only knows why we love it so” (225).
The quotation given explains the title of the book “The Hours” to suggest that man has two major divisions that influence life: the good enjoyable hours and the bad painful hours but apparently, change finally comes with conditions that seems to eliminate the past event while unveiling new. The Hours describes both the happy hours when one enjoys life and the blue hours, which nothing seems to operate as expected. The agonizing hours always follow the happy hours, the bitter hours are the days we experience life problems and the happy hours are the times one’s life is pleasant. By saying that in one’s life, a person does what he does then sleeps brings out the meaning of the title “The Hours” as meaning that life is divided into two major parts; the hours of being awake and doing whatever labor one justifies to learn as appropriate to engage in and the hours of being asleep, that is, the night hours. The daytime hours or the hours one does whatever he does, that is the hours when there is light, can be interpreted as the time when one enjoys and when everything seems to go right. The daytime hours go before the dark hours.
The dark hours is when everyone goes to sleep, these dark hours are the hours in one’s life where there is pain, despondency and hopelessness. The happy times happen after dark hours have gone by; therefore, life is like a swing passing through happiness and sadness, labor and prosperity. The title hours could also be meaning the time of death. The quotation talks about a human being doing whatever he does in his life then going to sleep. Going to sleep which the writer talks of in the book can mean dying.
It brings the meaning that a human being lives his life just like all the others do then the time of death will finally arrive. The Hours in this case means the time of death. The title brings out the mortality nature of human beings and talks of the hours of death. The hours of death would come up in different ways as the writer puts it; the writer says that some commit suicide, some die in accidents, some die due to diseases and some die a natural death when their lifespan is over. The writer says that even if some time life seems to go the way one expected, everyone knows that the hour of death would come.
The hours of death portray pain and undesirability. The hours of death are also inevitable. The title could also be referring to the present time when one is living. The time one is alive should be utilized one doing some work and enjoying himself even if one knows that some very difficult and painful moments are coming. The writer says that even if everyone is aware that the inevitable dark moments are coming, they can still enjoy the city and the mornings hoping for the better. Conclusion The title of the book as portrayed in the quotation means that life has two parts: the good times that are enjoyable and there are the dark times.
The title “The Hours” ttalks about the two different times, which must be present in one’s life. “‘I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam'” (103). “‘Be gone! I will not hear you. There can be no community between you and me; we are enemies. Be gone, or let us try our strength in a fight in which one must fall'” (103). Every human being should be responsible for his actions.
These actions include what ones say, does and create. If harm or evil results from your creation, you should accept responsibility for your creation’s failure. The aim of this essay is to discuss moral responsibility best illustrated by Mary Shelly novel Frankenstein The creature talked of in this mythical story by Mary Shelly is man created and therefore lacks a soul capable of differentiating between right and wrong. Victor Frankenstein is comparable to the immortal Heavenly God, but as is common with all things not made by the hand of God, the creature is full of flaws that eventually turn it into a monster with no remorse and no responsibility for its actions. Just like the biblical Cain, all the creature wants is to be acceptable in the society.The creator, Frankenstein is does not take time to think of his creation and does not want to take responsibility of his creations.
The abandonment of the creature by its creator is what turns the creature into a monster, which eventually destroys and kills Frankenstein’s friends and Frankenstein himself. This is solely because the creator is not ready to accept that he created a flawed creature. Frankenstein’s ego drives him to rebuke and reject the creature instead of simply correcting the shortcomings of the creature. In its early life, the creature tries to fit into the world that he was ‘created into’. It is safe therefore to say that the creature is born unformed.
The creature’s early life is like the life of a child with zero upbringings. The creature therefore has to observe, learn, and copy the behavior of the human race in which it leaves. The creature realizes that the only way that it is going to be accepted into that community is by following the morals of those it leaves around. The creature undergoes many tribulations and suffering but despite all these, does not trade its morals for pleasure. An example of the relation between the creature’s suffering and its high regard to morality is when it has to sleep with pigs. Pigs are juicy, fat edible animals that are more than fit for consumption but no matter how hungry the creature is, it cannot kill them because his moral does not allow it to.
The creature learns how to be human by reading books such as the sorrows of weatherwhere it learns about the nature of humans. Every human creature is however capable of being evil and only requires a trigger to jumpstart his evil nature. Such triggers include oppression, distance, hatred for authority and dehumanizing treatment. The creature in our discussion is turned to an uncontrollable monster through dehumanization although the creature is not human (considered human because of its morality). Every human being or any creature that have the morals and nature of a human being would want to belong and more so to its mother or creator, to feel that they count on the minds of their creator and that their creator is proud of whom they are.
The lack of understanding of the creature by Frankenstein is what drives it beyond humane to being full of anger and vengeance. The learning of the context of his creation also contributes to his fury. It is quite clear to the creature that Frankenstein lacked morals when creating him. This leads the creature to kill the person responsible for his creation Conclusion The creature in this fictitious story was born unmade and had to learn all about humanity through his own hard work. The sudden betrayal by its creator forces it to be full of rage and vengeance. The fury of the creature is unleashed when it discovers the reason behind its creation.
He compares his learned morals with those of Frankenstein and the stark difference between their morals makes the creature loathe and kill Frankenstein. Frankenstein should realize there is a connection between him and the creature he creates
