''Hamlet and Oedipus'' is a study of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'' in which the title character's inexplicable behaviours are subjected to investigation along psychoanalytic lines. The study was written by

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...

's colleague and biographer

Ernest Jones Alfred Ernest Jones (1 January 1879 – 11 February 1958) was a Welsh neurologist and psychoanalyst. A lifelong friend and colleague of Sigmund Freud from their first meeting in 1908, he became his official biographer. Jones was the first En ...

, following on from Freud's own comments on the play, as expressed to

Wilhelm Fliess Wilhelm Fliess (german: Wilhelm Fließ; 24 October 1858 – 13 October 1928) was a German otolaryngologist who practised in Berlin. He developed the pseudoscientific Biorhythm theory, theory of human biorhythms and a possible nasogenital conne ...

in 1897, before being published in Chapter V of ''

The Interpretation of Dreams ''The Interpretation of Dreams'' (german: Die Traumdeutung) is an 1899 book by Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, in which the author introduces his theory of the unconscious with respect to dream interpretation, and discusses what w ...

'' (1899).

Analysis

In Freud's wake, Jones explains Hamlet's mysterious

procrastination Procrastination is the action of unnecessarily and voluntarily delaying or postponing something despite knowing that there will be negative consequences for doing so. The word has originated from the Latin word ''procrastinatus'', which itself evo ...

as a consequence of the

Oedipus Complex The Oedipus complex (also spelled Œdipus complex) is an idea in psychoanalytic theory. The complex is an ostensibly universal phase in the life of a young boy in which, to try to immediately satisfy basic desires, he unconsciously wishes to have ...

: the son continually postpones the act of revenge because of the impossibly complicated psychodynamic situation in which he finds himself. Though he hates his fratricidal uncle, he nevertheless unconsciously identifies with him—for, having killed Hamlet's father and married

his mother ''His Mother'' is a 1912 American silent film produced by Kalem Company. It was directed by Sidney Olcott with Gene Gauntier and Jack J. Clark in the leading roles. It was one of more than a dozen films produced by the Kalem Company filmed in Ir ...

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...

has carried out what are Hamlet's own unconscious wishes. In addition, marriage to Hamlet's mother gives the uncle the unconscious status of the father— destructive impulses towards whom provoke great anxiety and meet with repression. Jones' investigation was first published as " The Œdipus-complex as an Explanation of Hamlet's Mystery: A Study in Motive" (in ''

The American Journal of Psychology The ''American Journal of Psychology'' is a journal devoted primarily to experimental psychology. It is the first such journal to be published in the English language (though ''Mind'', founded in 1876, published some experimental psychology earl ...

'', January 1910); it was later expanded in a 1923 publication; before finally appearing as a book-length study (''Hamlet and Oedipus'') in 1949.

Shakespeare's father

Freud had originally linked the writing of ''Hamlet'' (with its oedipal subtext) to the death of Shakespeare's father in 1601, but had to abandon this view when he gave his support to the

Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship The Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship contends that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, wrote the plays and poems of William Shakespeare. While historians and literary scholars overwhelmingly reject alternative authorship candidates ...

–something Jones always rejected in his study.

Reception

In 1986, the historian

Peter Gay Peter Joachim Gay (né Fröhlich; June 20, 1923 – May 12, 2015) was a German-American historian, educator, and author. He was a Sterling Professor of History at Yale University and former director of the New York Public Library's Center for Sch ...

described ''Hamlet and Oedipus'' as "still controversial", noting that the work has been criticized as "literal-minded and unliterary". Gay considered ''Hamlet and Oedipus'' persuasive, but only as a "modest psychoanalytic explanation of Hamlet's hesitation".

References

External links

* *http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/jones/ A summary of and the complete text of Jones' 1910 essay which expanded into his 1949 book, ''Hamlet and Oedipus''.
Oedipus and Hamlet (Freud)Information at www.answers.com
{{Hamlet 1949 non-fiction books Books by Ernest Jones Critical approaches to Hamlet English-language books Incest in fiction Psychoanalytic books

Analysis

Shakespeare's father

Reception

See also

References

External links