An Analysis Of Hamlet's 'Complex Desire'

A Complex Desire Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, is a tragic play that revolves around the protagonist Prince Hamlet in the 16th century. His father, late King Hamlet, appears to Prince Hamlet in act one, scene five after his tragic death to relay his message of his death to his one and only son. However, it seems that the rational Hamlet has already started to go mad with grief because the Ghost is a visual and auditory hallucination of Hamlet's. The Ghost mentions the two aspects of Oedipal desires such as the need to assert dominance and to receive a mother's affection through the quote “Ghost: Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,/ With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts-/ O wicked wits and gifts, that have the power/
So to seduce! - won to his shameful lust/ The will of my most seeming – virtuous queen”. (1.5:49-53) The Ghost speaks of Hamlet's true Oedipal desires for dominance and motherly love such as being the rightful successor to the throne Claudius holds, the partner that Gertrud remarries, and ultimately the person that Gertrude commits adulterous acts with. One of the characteristics of an Oedipus complex is having the urge to assert dominance over a motherly figure and compete with the fatherly figure for the motherly figure. Prince Hamlet, who is the son of the late King Hamlet, otherwise known as the Ghost, would have ascended to the throne if he had won the competition against Claudius, his new fatherly figure for Gertrude, his motherly figure. However, Hamlet lost to Claudius and his “wicked wits and gifts, that have the power/ So to seduce!”. (1.3:51-52) Hamlet believes that Claudius didn't have any remorse for his brother's death because he married Gertrude within hours of late King Hamlet's last breath. His lack of remorse makes Hamlet angry because Claudius took away his competition and tried to replace his competition with himself. The Ghost, who explains Hamlet's true feelings, says Claudius has “traitorous gifts” which basically implies that Claudius is a traitor for feeling guiltless for the death of late King Hamlet as well as being a traitor in the sense of remarrying Gertrude just to take the throne and assert his dominance over the kingdom. This conflicts with Hamlet and his Oedipus complex. Because Hamlet also wants to assert his dominance over the kingdom like late King Hamlet did. However, Claudius is now in the way because he stepped up and took the throne as well as his mother which conflicts with his inner desires. Hamlet's desire for his mother and the Ghost's message rekindled Hamlet's need for authority and his need to compete with a new fatherly figure for dominance. The second aspect of an Oedipus complex is feeling the need for the affection of the motherly figure.
However, Hamlet's mother, Gertrude, betrays his father by remarrying with Claudius. The Ghost calls Gertrude his “most seeming – virtuous queen” which implies that she only seems to be virtuous, but is not.(1.5.53) To be virtuous means to be honest and moral, Hamlet believes that his mother is no longer either because she remarried to another man right after the death of his father. To the kingdom she may seem honest and be seen as protecting the throne by remarrying, but by remarrying she is being immoral in the sense of throwing away her past relationship with her husband and son. In act one, scene one, Prince Hamlet accuses Gertrude of not missing her late husband because of the marriage that happened right after his father death. He believes that she did not mourn for him and therefore is not a faithful woman in a marriage. However, it is every boy's dream to marry their mother; Oedipal desire states that the boy will undergo castration anxiety or the fear of having his phallus cut off by his father to match his mother, one without a phallus, for desiring his mother. But now that his father is gone, Hamlet's castration anxiety was relieved which prompted him to desire to marry his mother as well as receive affection from her. Nonetheless, due to Claudius, another father figure, he is unable to assert dominance over Gertrude and marry her. Not only does Claudius take away Hamlet's chance of marrying Gertrude, he also takes away the affection that Hamlet craves. The affection that late King Hamlet once had and now Claudius has is what Hamlet desires so much. Hamlet believes that Claudius is unworthy of this love because he had to murder his brother in order to gain Gertrude's love. Hamlet, Gertrude's one and only son, believes that her affection should belong only to him because his father passed away. Claudius' “traitorous gifts” are only to be considered
traitorous to Hamlet because those gifts turned his mother against him. Instead of consoling her son and loving her son more like a grieving mother would when a father passes away, Gertrude turns away from Hamlet and marries Claudius to cope with her grief. Now that there is another fatherly figure, Hamlet is once again facing castration anxiety which ultimately displeases him. Because of the lack of affection from Gertrude,Hamlet is unable to cope with reality and therefore his hallucination, the Ghost, tells Hamlet that the Queen has been seduced and unveils his distress and disgust. As a result of the second aspect of the Oedipus complex, not only is there craving for motherly affection, but there's craving for sexual affection as well. The Ghost doesn't just tell Hamlet of Claudius' ascendance to the throne being unfair, he also tells of the sexual acts that Claudius participates in with Gertrude as well. When the Ghost says “incestuous, adulterate beast” and “shameful lust”, he not only refers to Claudius, but also to Gertrude. (1.5:51-54) Although Claudius isn't blood related to Gertrude, their marriage was still considered incestuous and adulterous. Because the Ghost, Hamlet's hallucination, says this, he's expressing his distaste for his mother' new marriage because it's sinful and adulterous to his father. The Ghost also mentions that the newly wed couple participates in shameful lust which is the main idea of sexual affection. Hamlet, who is driven by his desires for his mother, ultimately will desire not only motherly affection, but sexual affection as well. She commits these sins with Claudius, whom he believes is not worthy of his mother. Claudius killed his father, married his mother, and touches her with the same hands that he killed the late King Hamlet with.Hamlet believes that his mother should have turned her affections and feelings toward him, one that is of the same blood. However, Hamlet doesn't have that power over his mother. “The will of my most seeming – virtuous queen” was the will to take the grief out by remarrying and having someone else to love. (1.5:53) Hamlet, who wants this love as well, failed to achieve his goal which ultimately leads to his hallucination telling him all about Claudius and Gertrude's sexual relationship. Prince Hamlet started showing signs of mental deterioration very early on in the play. In just act one, scene five, he conjures up a mental and visual hallucination whom he dubbed the Ghost. The Ghost tells of his father's tragic death as well as information about the affection that the Queen doesn't show towards Hamlet. Hamlet, who developed a desire for his mother, uses his hallucination in order to truly express his desires and ultimately blame Claudius for taking taking Gertrude away from him. Hamlet's hallucination mentions the two aspects of an Oedipal desire, the need to assert dominance over a motherly figure as well as the need for affection from a motherly figure which is exactly what Hamlet is feeling.