Hamlet Suffering From Oedipus Complex

The character of Hamlet is very complex and full of contradictions. He seems gentle, yet he acts cruelly towards the people who care about him the most. He is also careful to develop a strategy which will allow him a sense of retribution against Claudius for the murder of his father without being suspected, but then he kills Polonius in a wild fit of irrationality. Still, Hamlet possesses a very philosophical mind. He is always processing his own experiences and struggling with the feelings that these experiences provoke. The fact that he is intelligent and able to take action cannot be denied. He proves not only his intelligence by contemplating big issues within his soliloquies, but also his ability to operate by the quick, but rare, decisions he makes all throughout the novel. On the surface, it is awfully difficult to understand why Hamlet is the way he is. It could be that Hamlet is simply a victim in all the corruption which surrounds him or maybe he is just extremely sinister in his opinions of the inner workings of Elsinore. However, when pressing concentration of the issue is achieved, the answer is obvious. Hamlet's drive to murder Claudius, his disgust with females, and his inability to fulfill certain duties makes it clear that Hamlet suffers from an Oedipus Complex.

In the first place, Hamlet is incredibly appalled by his mother, Gertrude, and her decision to marry his father's brother, Claudius, so soon after his father's death. Hamlet is visited by his father's ghost shortly afterwards and discovers that his father was murdered by none other than Claudius himself. He is then instructed by the ghost to slay Claudius. Hamlet's entire being quickly becomes consumed with avenging his father's death seeing that as the only way to end Gertrude's incestuous marriage. Before long, he even feigns madness so no one will be able to guess his actual intentions. He cannot stomach what his mother has done and he obsesses over it, describing it as "rank," "incestuous," and "nasty." Hamlet believes it to be a sin that is unjustifiable.

Pursuing this further, Hamlet's description of Gertrude's behavior is actually a verbal projection of his own feelings that he has for her. Consequently these feelings disgust him so he projects disgust for females and sexuality in general. Hamlet seems to think that