Freud’s Hamlet

Summary

Hamlet receives two commands from the Ghost: to kill Claudius, and not to harm Gertrude. As he cannot do the first without causing agony to his mother, he is given an apparently impossible task. It is therefore arguable - and it has been argued powerfully - that Hamlet did not really delay in carrying out his task. As soon as the guilt of Claudius is proclaimed publicly by Laertes, and Gertrude has declared that she has been poisoned by the cup intended for her son, Hamlet immediately executes justice on his uncle, while he himself is dying from the poisoned rapier. His mission has been accomplished, despite the fates of Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Polonius and Ophelia, without deadly sin, and without harming his mother.

Nevertheless, most critics insist that Hamlet did delay, referring both to the Ghost's accusation of his 'almost blunted purpose', to Hamlet's refusal to kill the King at his prayers, and to his frequent self-accusations. Freud, followed by Jones, put forward one of the most popular explanations of the delay, that Hamlet was in love with his mother and that he was inhibited from killing his rival. This theory of Oedipus Complex has had a remarkable success, especially in the theatre, where we often see Gertrude's closet transformed into a bedroom, and where we see the relationship between Hamlet and his mother erotically charged.