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Example research essay topic: Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Oedipus Complex - 1,621 words

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William Shakespeare's Hamlet has always provided literary critics with a rich source for character analysis. This source has grown as critics no longer evaluate Hamlet as an artistic representation limited to the depth of which the author characterizes him but rather evaluate him as a living human being (Lowers 10). As the scrutiny on Hamlet the human being has intensified, many people have been called to wonder if Hamlet is insane. Before trying to answer this question, it should be considered that this is possibly the wrong question. "Insane" is a legal term, not a medical one. People often mistakenly assume that the word "insane" is interchangeable with the medical term "psychosis", which describes mental sickness. The majority of the U.

S. states determine insanity by the McNaghten rule. By this standard, an insanity defense can be established by proving that the defendant did not know what he was doing or did not realize that it was wrong (Davison 592). It is obvious from Hamlet's comments throughout the play that he is aware of what his actions are and what the consequences will be. Hamlet's presence of mind allows him to stay one step ahead of Claudius. He reveals that he has sensed Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's ulterior motives when he asks them to "play upon this pipe" (Ham. 3. 2. 358 - 59).

Hamlet continuously leaves Polonius confused, as he is too slow to fully understand Hamlet's veiled insults. Even when Hamlet does contradict himself or acts oddly, it is impossible to rule out that he was putting on an "antic disposition" (Ham. 172). Hamlet himself suggests this is the case when he tells Guildenstern that he is "but mad north-northwest" (Ham. 2. 2. 348). Many scholars accept these comments as proof of Hamlet's sanity. Mc Grail refers to Hamlet "feigning madness" (Remnick 74).

After examining Hamlet's words and actions, it is reasonable to assume that Hamlet is not only sane, but also most likely sharper than any of the other characters in the play. After answering the question on whether or not Hamlet is insane with reasonable certainty, one should now consider if Hamlet might not suffer from a psychosis, neurosis, or some other psychological abnormality. One theory that has become popular since the mid-twentieth century suggests that Shakespeare foresaw Sigmund Freud's concept of the Oedipus complex and incorporated it into Hamlet's character (? ? ? 93). According to Freud, an Oedipus complex is the desire and conflict of a young male child who wants to sexually possess his mother and eliminate his father. Fear of punishment causes these impulses to be repressed (Davison 594). Some scholars believe that Hamlet's Oedipus complex is the source of his inaction.

According to one theory Hamlet delays his revenge because he identifies with Claudius. Through Claudius, Hamlet has vicariously acted on his Oedipal desires of killing his father and possessing his mother (Lowers 11). Another argument states that Claudius revives Hamlet's repressed Oedipal thoughts. Killing Claudius therefore conjures images of parricide and incest.

This causes Hamlet to second guess his motives and leaves him incapable of action (? ? ? 93). While Hamlet's constant protesting of his mother's marriage and her sexual appetite seem to be evidence of an Oedipus complex, one must consider the values of Elizabethan times. In Elizabethan England, it was considered incestuous to marry a brother- or sister-in-law after being widowed. As Kirsch points out, "the source of Hamlet's so called Oedipal anxiety is real and present, it is not an archaic and repressed fantasy" (126).

Hamlet is not disturbed by his mother's marriage to Claudius because he is jealous but because he has every right to be disturbed by her incestuous marriage and by her lust that dishonors his father's memory. Before labeling Hamlet with an Oedipus complex because he feels injured by his mother's sexual affairs, one should consider how it would feel if one's own mother married a first cousin just months after the death of her husband. When put in this perspective, it is easier to understand Hamlet's preoccupation with his mother's sexual affairs. The last possible psychological abnormality that I will discuss in this paper is depression. According to the DSM-II, the current diagnostic and statistical manual of the American Psychiatric Association, the three categories of depression are major affective disorders, psychotic depressive reaction, and depressive neurosis.

People are classified with a major affective disorder if they show affective excess of happiness or sadness. Manic-depression is one major affective disorder and involutional melancholia is the other. The idea of Hamlet as a manic-depressive can be ruled out because Hamlet never exhibits the mood swings from hopelessness to hopelessly optimistic that are characteristic of manic-depressives. Involutional melancholia can be ruled out as it generally affects people who go through physiological changes that make it less likely that they will still be able to reproduce. Psychotic depressive reactions are depressions characterized by delusions.

The appearance of Hamlet's dead father leaves this as a possibility, but one must remember that Horatio, Bernardo, and Marcellus have also seen King Hamlet's ghost. It is unlikely that all four characters would have the same delusion so it is unlikely that Hamlet suffers from a psychotic depressive reaction. Neurotic depression is defined as excessive sadness that is caused by an environmental event (Davison 175 - 76). This definition fits Hamlet remarkably well. This diagnosis of Hamlet as having a depressive neurosis seems even more probable when Elizabethan thoughts on depression are considered.

When looking for Elizabethan beliefs on depression, one should look under the term melancholy. Melancholy was a recognized disease during Shakespeare's time and was the subject of articles in both England and continental Europe. Timothy Bright's A Treatise of Melancholia was well known when Shakespeare wrote Hamlet and it is likely that a man such as Shakespeare would be familiar with it (Lowers 10 - 11). Shakespeare mentions melancholy directly when Hamlet speaks of "my weakness and my melancholy" (Ham. 2. 2. 630).

Lowers diagnoses Hamlet as having melancholy adust, the most destructive form of melancholy (11). Before concluding that Hamlet is depressed, however, one should examine the cause of Hamlet's sadness and determine if Hamlet really suffers from depression and not grief. The possible causes of Hamlet's grief are almost too numerous to list. The largest single cause of Hamlet's grief is probably his father's death.

In addition to losing his father, he is also denied the throne that is rightfully his. His mother enters an incestuous marriage with his uncle; she not only refuses to sympathize with Hamlet, but also treats his grief as alien. The ghost of his father reveals to him that he was murdered and asks Hamlet to prove his love for his father by murdering Claudius. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, once friends, betray him in order to win favor with the king. Ophelia, whom he loves, ends her relationship with him, and last, but not least, Claudius is plotting to kill him. Basically, Hamlet's father dies, his mother deserts him, all friends except for Horatio desert him, his girlfriend deserts him, his dead father asks him to commit murder, and his step-father plots to kill him.

Hamlet's world is "emptied of all the human relationships which nourish the ego and give it purpose and vitality (Kirsch 134). It is hard to imagine what would constitute "excessive sadness" in this situation. Instead of using the definition of depression given in the DSM-II, which leaves the actual diagnosis of depression in question by not relating the differences between depression and grief, I will turn to Freud's essay " Mourning and Melancholia", which highlights the differences between normal grief and depression. According to Freud: The distinguishing mental features of melancholia are a profoundly painful defection, abrogation of interest in the outside world, loss of the capacity to love, inhibition of all activity, and a lowering of the self-regarding feelings to a degree that finds utterance in self-reproaches and self-reviling, and culminates in a delusional expectation of punishment. This picture becomes a little more intelligible when we consider that, with one exception, the same traits are met with in grief.

The fall in self-esteem is absent in grief; but otherwise the features are the same. (q in Kirsch 127). This passage gives a relatively simple measuring stick to determine if Hamlet is depressed. By this standard Hamlet is obviously depressed because it is obvious that he suffers from a fall in self-esteem and constantly scolds himself for his inaction. Hamlet's disgust at his own inaction causes him to describe himself as a "rogue and peasant slave" (Ham. 2. 2. 505). These words reveal Hamlet's self reproach and provide evidence of his depression. Freud's essay also gives insight as to what causes Hamlet's depression.

Freud describes mourning as the process by which grief is overcome. The mourner struggles between remaining bound to the dead person and realizing that he must come to terms with his loss before he can overcome his grief. This struggle is already lost for Hamlet through the appearance of his father's ghost. Both Hamlet's vow to avenge his father's murder and the ghost's plead to remember him leave Hamlet incapable of dealing with his loss and moving on (Kirsch 130). In the play Hamlet handles his troubles with amazing resilience. He is confronted with dilemmas that would make many people psychotic, delusional, or suicidal.

Hamlet's psychological soundness is not unshakable, however. The combined losses of his father, his mother, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Ophelia and the problems presented by his father's ghost and Claudius are too much for Hamlet to bear. Still, Hamlet probably only suffers from neurotic depression, which is a very mild condition when the causes are considered. Bibliography: Sorry, I lost the Bibliography.


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