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Hamlets Oedipus Complex - College Essay

Hamlets Oedipus Complex

Various works of literature contain characters who embody the elements of the classic Oedipus Complex, that of a son with an undue and unhealthy attachment to his mother. D.H Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers, along with other early modernist works, shows how a son’s bond to his mother can lead to that character’s major downfall. Even earlier than works of the late 19th Century does the Oedipus Complex appear, in this case, William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Shakespeare’s play about the Prince of Denmark shows the beginning of an Oedipal Complex, with Hamlet’s jealousy of his uncle Claudius for marrying his mother Gertrude and the rage that Hamlet’s ...

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gouges out his own eyes and suffers banishment from his country. The Oedipal Complex involves the indecorous and harmful attachment of a son to his mother, which ultimately leads to the son becoming morbidly suppressed and suffering mental impotence.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet evolves around the title character, Hamlet, and his obsession with correcting a wrong against his father, committed by his father’s brother Claudius. After the King’s death, Claudius marries Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother, and takes the throne. Enraged, Hamlet seeks vengeance for his father, whose spirit appears before Hamlet to speak of the unrest he (the King) endures. His depression, caused by the marriage, first shows in his soliloquy after the departure of the others when the whole “family” gathers for the first time. “O that this too too sallied flesh would melt,/Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!” begins the explanation that Hamlet despair is great enough to ...

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Hamlets Oedipus Complex. (2008, May 8). Retrieved January 11, 2026, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hamlets-Oedipus-Complex/83286

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 5/8/2008 12:47:57 AM
Category: English
Type: Free Paper
Words: 1213
Pages: 5

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