Hamlet
"To be or not to be-that is the question", Hamlet asks himself in this famoussoliloquy what he should do the situation he is in. As we live, we makethousands of decisions each day, and each decision that we make makes a bigdifference in our lives. In the decision making process there has been aquestion that was raised by the Freudian psychologists. Is one following hisor her pure conscious will, or is there something else that influences thedecision making process? The Freudians argue that there is such influencecalled unconsciousness. They argue that even though we cannot physicallyacknowledge our unconsciousness, it is probably influencing every move ofone's life. Shakespeare demonstrates that doing what is against one'spersonal ethical code creates sense of guilt in unconsciousness and willeventually lead to one's downfall. We live in series of conflicts. Norms and laws of the society oftenconflict with an individual's wills and desires. Even one's ownunconsciousness could conflict with one's conscious motivation, or viceversa. Hamlet in the play has conflicting mi
That is whathappened to Hamlet, Claudius, and the Queen in this play, and all three ofthem have committed crimes that make them feel guilty unconsciously,bringing them to follow and create other situations that lead their way todownfalls. Freudians would say that his deep wish inhis unconsciousness state that doesn't want to harm people, especially hisuncle, is preventing him from committing a crime that is against the society,the norms, and his own ethical code. All the guilt that was created heads them to follow theirdownfall slowly and eventually setting other situations that fastens the event. There is another kind of guilt, unconscious guilt, that ishiding and resisting to be pulled by his consciousness and that is the mainreason why Hamlet cannot act right on his words and makes other peoplebelieve that he is genuinely insane. By raising theguilt that Queen tries to repress, Hamlet forces Gertrude to bring the guiltfrom her unconsciousness. If Hamletdidn't hesitate to kill Claudius when he was praying, Hamlet wouldn't havegotten killed by the poison on the sword, which was secretly planned byLaertes and the King, who later realize that Hamlet knows the truth behindhis father's death. Gertrude usually does not show any guilt through out the play but inthis particular scene, as her unconscious guilt is stimulated by Hamlet's bitterand sharp speeches "daggers without forms" feels that she is very guilty ofincest. Hamlet cries and asks why he cannot act on his revenge unlikeFortinbras, feeling guilt in his consciousness because he cannot revenge forhis innocent father. He often hasto remind himself that the King has killed his father and is also "infecting" hismother with filthy incestuous acts. nds because he decides to murderClaudius, his uncle, in order to revenge for his father King Hamlet. When Hamlet has the perfect chance to kill Claudius he hesitates andlets him escape from the situation. As Hamlet hesitates and goes through his little plays that delay hisrevenge, he is leading his own way to downfall. Hamletwants to get revenge on Claudius but he has trouble going through with itbecause his unconsciousness is telling him to do what is ethical. Hamlet was verbally attacking Gertrude and pinpoints her sin callingClaudius "a mildewed for Blasting his wholesome brother". Killing Polonius opens a new way to Hamlet's downfall, gettingLaertes upset and wishing to kill Hamlet, no matter how or where.
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