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Literary Analysis Of ' Hamlet '

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Kelsey Deven Sect. 4
Professor Roberts
April 21, 2015
Literary Analysis
Psychological State of the Characters in Hamlet
The English Play writer, William Shakespeare had written many well-known pieces of work including Hamlet. Hamlet is known to be one of his most popular works. Hamlet was written in the late 16th Century about the Prince of Denmark. The original title of the work was The Tragedy of Hamlet, now it is referred to as just Hamlet. In Hamlet, William Shakespeare uses the mental state of his characters to prove that not all characters in books have to be one dimensional. Shakespeare’s writing shows that humans are complex, and can have different mental states. Characters throughout the story such as, Hamlet, Gertrude, and Ophelia show their not so stable mental state. First we will analyze Hamlet and talk about Ernest Jones’ Psycho-analytic study of Hamlet. Then we will talk about Ophelia and how the events that happened leading up to her death or suicide played a role into her mental state. Finally we will analyze Gertrude, the Queen’s role in Hamlet, and how she is a mentally weak woman and relies on the men in her life.
According to Ernest Jones, Hamlet has the “Oedipus-Complex” while others might just call him a momma’s boy. The “Oedipus-Complex” from Freud is expressed through Diderot statement of, “If we were left to ourselves and if our bodily strength only came up to that of our phantasy we would wring our fathers’ neck and sleep with our mothers.” In

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