Hamlet and Shakespeare's Perceptions of Human Behavior

Hamlet can be analyzed from a wide variety of perspectives. It is a rich play capable of a number of interpretations of its various elements. William Shakespeare lived long before Freud developed his psychoanalytic theory, but both the playwright and the psychologist were dealing with their own sharp perceptions of human behavior. Shakespeare created full-bodied characters whose motivations and thought processes can be discerned from their words and deeds, and Freud offered a framework for analyzing human behavior and for understanding its origins. A psychoanalytic interpretation of the character of Hamlet offers one way of delving into some of the mysteries of the character, notably his indecision in carrying out the revenge with which he is charged by his father.

In Hamlet as in other Elizabethan drama, the fate of kings is tied to the order of the universe, and dissension and tension in one is reflected in the other. Yet, the issue is complex, and while the usurper has no right to rule, it is not always clear who has the right to prevent him from ruling. The hesitation of Hamlet, much commented on by critics, may derive from the fact that while he knows Claudio to be a regicide, to kill Claudio would make him a regicide as well. The usurpation of the throne leads to a more dangerous and uncertain environment in the land, and nature concurs by expressing through storms and other travails visited upon the people that a great political wrong is also a great moral and

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ther's breast. The boy deals with his father by identifying with him. These two relationships proceed for a time side by side. When the boy's sexual wishes with reference to his mother become more intense and his father is perceived as an obstacle to them, the Oedipus complex originates. The boy's identification with his father takes on a hostile coloring and changes into a wish to get rid of his father so he can take the father's place with the mother. The relationship with the father is then ambivalent. In time, the Oedipus complex is demolished, and the boy's object-cathexis with the mother must be surrendered. Its place may be filled by one of two things: 1) an identification with his mother; or 2) an intensification of his identification with his father. Freud writes: We are accustomed to regard the latter outcome as the more normal; it permits the affectionate relation to the mother to be in a measure retained. In this way the dissolution of the Oedipus complex would consolidate the masculinity in a boy's character (Freud, 1923, 22). For a little girl, the outcome is an intensification of her identification with her mother, thus fixing the child's feminine character. The application of this to Hamlet shows

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