Preview

Psychoanalytic Analysis of Shakespeare's Hamlet

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1341 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Psychoanalytic Analysis of Shakespeare's Hamlet
If one wants to truly understand the psychological implications of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, the primary focus should be on the character Hamlet, and how he develops and modifies throughout the play. Using the fundamentals of the psychoanalytic perspective of critical evaluation, one would be able to truly identify and explore the true nature of Hamlet, and the effects that his character has on the situation surrounding him. In order to gain a true understanding of most of the detail that is implied through Hamlet's way of portraying himself to others, it is vital to look deep into the actions that are carried out, and analyze them psychoanalytically.
Many have already written works that evaluate the play using this method, and one can also do this simply by having a good understanding of what a psychological evaluation truly is. Before beginning the analysis, it would be necessary to have a proper understanding of the psychoanalytical perspective. After attaining knowledge about the perspective, and reading Hamlet of course, one can begin to make important connections using details from the play. In the actual play, one of the principle argument is whether Hamlet is truly mad or not. To analyze this for validity, one would have to look at the linguistics of the play and the situations that play out within it. There is concrete evidence, as well as implied detail, which leads one to believe that Hamlet is only acting as if he were mad in order to carry out his plan to avenge the death of the late King Hamlet.
One of the first examples of this evidence shows itself when Hamlet warns Horatio of what he's planning, and in effect, not to blow his cover.
"Here, as before, never, so help you mercy, how strange or odd soe'er I bear myself,— As I, perchance, hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on,— that you, at such times seeing me, never shall...note that you know aught of me:—this is not to do, so grace and mercy at your most need help

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    biopbset1

    • 688 Words
    • 2 Pages

    a. A chiton is a marine mollusk in the class Polyplacophora. It has a flattened, oval shaped body with a shell of eight overlapping plates. They are usually found clinging onto rocks near water, this way they can obtain their food. Chitons eat algae, diatoms, and sometimes they will also eat bacteria. Chitons have separate sexes. The male chiton releases his sperm cells into the water, and the female chiton releases her cells individually. As a result, fertilization is external.…

    • 688 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hamlet became mad over a course of period as it seems, but Hamlet is only acting. So the question will be does Hamlet want to die before he conquers his revenge on Claudius or will he want to continue on with life? Hamlet becomes very wishy washy with his emotions throughout the play. Sometimes Hamlet is happy and sometimes he is mad, as well as crazy. Claudius is on the hunt to get rid of Hamlet, but little does he know Hamlet could be considering getting rid of himself without the help of Claudius.…

    • 383 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    " Hamlet at once invites and resists interrogation. He is, more than any theatrical character before and perhaps since, a figure constructed around an unseen or secret core. "…

    • 490 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    HAMLET INSANE OR NOT

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Prior to talking about Hamlet’s madness, we must consider two main options: He was either mad since birth, or struck by insanity just after the death of his father, followed by the encounter with the ghost. The answer is easy for me: even if the first one were true, it would not change much in our perception of the story, because we meet Hamlet and all the other characters at a certain definite point from which they develop, so what is important in the story are not their pasts, but their futures. Therefore, rather than pointlessly contemplating about Hamlet’s possible inborn mental defects, we should concentrate on the clearer proofs of his insanity that come after the death of the King, which the text undoubtedly offers. The first one on the almost infinite list is a sad whimper – a moan that followed the realization that his father had died:…

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the play Hamlet is he really insane or is he faking? Hamlet has a plan from the beginning and that is to find out answers about his fathers death, and his suspicions lead him to his uncle. He decides to act like he was going insane to hopefully get answers revealed from his uncles. In the play he is so used to acting like he is insane he eventually becomes insane.…

    • 460 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the intensely introspective character, Hamlet, purposely uses an internal dialogue and calculatingly waits and plots to cope with the moral issues, draw out his enemies and manipulate the situation to exact revenge without guilt, all while feigning madness.…

    • 1753 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The primary function of the first soliloquy is to reveal to the audience Hamlet's profound melancholia and the reasons for his despair. Hamlet explains, with an outpouring of disgust, anger, sorrow, and grief that everything in his world is either futile or contemptible.…

    • 529 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Characters in Hamlet

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The play Hamlet is without a doubt an odd story to read based on what society today has become accustomed to. A brother killing another brother, and then marrying his wife. It is not a typical story in the modern world today. There is a vast variety of different themes that can be traced throughout the play, however the most popular is madness and sanity. Madness and sanity shape the play into what it is, without madness and sanity the play would have no life. Certain actions would not occur, certain events would not occur, and certain statements would not occur. Hamlet is a perfect example in the thought of is he acting insane or is he truly insane?…

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Revenge and Downfall

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In Shakespeare's Hamlet, it is the desire for revenge that lies behind the motives of young Hamlet. His moral struggle towards revenge becomes an obsession leading to a change in character. His actions strongly imply that madness has overcome him. However, there are hints present in the text that implies his madness was feigned in order to achieve his revenge.…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There have been many points in the story that can lead the audience to believe that Hamlet is mad, but none more than him thinking about committing suicide. "O, that this too too sullied flesh would melt,Thaw and resolve itself into a dew,Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God, God,How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world"(1.2.133-138). This quote is a perfect example to show how Hamlet thinks about committing suicide.…

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    1.The change of mood that occurs In scene one is mainly because of Polonius. This is shown in the beginning of the act when Polonius is hiring a spy to find out how his son is behaving. In the beginning of the scene it is quite funny and suspicious since Polonius acts like he trusts his son, but in actual fact he’s so concerned that he hired someone to look after him. The change of mood occurs when Ophelia runs into the room and explains to Polonius what had just happened with Hamlet ( II,i,ll 85-112). This changes Polonius’s mood and concern about his son towards his daughter Ophelia and how he was the reason for Hamlet’s insanity, Polonius shows that he is very concerned and feels that he is to blame for what is going on.…

    • 322 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    We can definitely see his madness and the evidence that he really goes mad when he said he sees his father’s ghost in his mother’s chambers while his mother does not see the ghost. Hamlet intentions in acting insane in order to get to his goal: "I essentially am not in madness”, Hamlet tells his mother that he is not mad and that he is mad in craft. [Act III, scene IV, lines 188-199]. Hamlet believes he is sane all the times, and did not realize that his actions and his madness is overwhelming him. His attitude resulted to the death of several people which included his mother and the King of Denmark. He is more desperate with the marriage of his mother to his uncle. We realize his violence and jealousy towards his mother. With these events, he builds frustration and anger and which turns him into an insane character. After Hamlet had killed Polonius, he had nothing to say and he even went on to call him a rat. This shows that he doesn’t care much about killing someone and moreover it does not affect him too much because he is so persistent in revenge. It seems as if he will go above and beyond his limits to get revenge. After the death of Polonius, Ophelia dies and this does not affect Hamlet as much as we believe in the consequences because he does state that, “[He] did love [Ophelia] once,”…

    • 868 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    With the coming of Freudian theory in the first half of this century and the subsequent emergence of psychoanalytically-oriented literary criticism in the 1960s, the question of Hamlet's underlying sanity has become a major issue in the interpretation of Hamlet. While related concern with the Prince's inability to take action had already directed scholarly attention toward the uncertainty of Hamlet's mental state, modern psychological views of the play have challenged his sanity at a deeper, sub-conscious level, typically citing self-destructive and, most pointedly, sexual drives to explain his behavior, his words, and the mental processes beneath them. In a play with undertones of incest and heavy doses of sexual word-play, critics using diverse psychoanalytical approaches to Hamlet have generated new (and sometimes plausible) readings of Shakespeare's best-know tragedy. But even if we forego this maze, the issue of Hamlet's basic sanity is worth re-examining from a modern perspective.…

    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Shakespeare portrays Hamlet with the same types of behaviors and frustrations in humans that Sigmund Freud saw at a much later date. When the relationship between Hamlet and his mother is analyzed Freud's oedipal complex theory comes to mind.…

    • 1224 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shakespeare’s timeless work of literature, and one of the most popular plays to this day, Hamlet, was not just a tale Shakespeare himself thought up on his own with no inspiration from outside sources. Shakespeare’s wonderful writing stems from not only his natural talent, but from his influence pulled from the great writers who came before him. Literature builds upon itself; every work of literature in existence has some inspiration from another work. Excluding any outside influence from a work of literature is something that is just not possible. Shakespeare took inspiration from some of the best works in literature, and it resulted in one of the most known and loved plays to this days. Works that…

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays