LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 14:12 December 2014
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Dilemma and Desire in Hamlet

Md. Kawsar Uddin, M.A. in English

Abstract

This paper provides a psychoanalytic reading of the unconscious of the central character of Shakespeare’s Hamlet with a view to understanding if and how Hamlet’s procrastination is contrived from his mother’s desire. According to Freud, Hamlet delays to take the revenge as Claudius did the same thing what Hamlet in his unconscious wanted to do. It means the oedipal conflict operates at the bottom of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. On the other hand, Lacan does not identify Hamlet’s delay with Claudius’s crime, rather he reads the subversion of Hamlet’s subjectivity in the play’s dialectic of mother’s desire. This paper analyses Lacan’s interpretation of Hamlet’s desire and explores that Hamlet’s hesitation in avenging his father’s death by murdering his uncle is not because of his suffering from Oedipus complex rather because of his narcissistic attachment with the desire of his mother.

Key words: Hamlet, Claudius, Oedipus complex

Why This Delay?

One of the most discussed issues regarding Shakespeare’s Hamlet is why Hamlet does not kill Claudius at the very first hand and why he delays in taking revenge of his father’s death. Critics explain it in various ways and amongst them psychoanalysis is the most acceptable one. Psychoanalyst, Freud in 1897 analyzed Hamlet’s problem and identified that his problem resembled to that of Oedipus’. According to him, Hamlet in his unconscious had an incestuous desire for his mother and had a murderous desire towards his father. Later, the predecessors of Freud explained this issue in various ways. Lacan, however, after analyzing Hamlet’s unconscious, didn’t find any incestuous desire for his mother rather he explored and analyzed Hamlet’s desire in the dialectic of mother’s desire.

Focus of This Paper

This paper analyzes both Freudian and Lacanian interpretation of Hamlet’s problem, his dilemma in taking revenge and his identification with mother’s desire; and, if and how his dilemma is contrived from his narcissistic attachment with his mother’s desire.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Md. Kawsar Uddin, M.A. in English
Faculty
Department of Languages
International University of Business Agriculture and Technology (IUBAT)
4 Embankment Drive Road, Sector-10, Uttara, 4 Abdullahpur Hwy, Dhaka 1230
Bangladesh
ukawsar@gmail.com
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