Some critics have suggested that Hamlet's anger at his
mother for marrying Claudius is based on his own sexual desire for his mother; in other
words, he is upset with his mother for marrying Claudius because, subconciously, he
would have liked to marry her himself. (See second link
below.)
Sigmund Freud interpreted Hamlet's reluctance to
kill Claudius according to his famous Oedipal theory, that sons wish to kill their
fathers and become intimate with their mothers. Freud explained that Hamlet is jealous
of Claudius because Claudius has done what he (Hamlet) has always wished to do: kill the
King and marry Gertrude. Hamlet is therefore reluctant to kill Claudius, because by
doing so he would be killing his own hero, a man who is in a way an embodiment of
himself. (See second link below.)
Like all theories,
this one can be challenged. Some critics point out that Hamlet expresses great love and
admiration for his father. These expressions do not seem to fit with Freud's
explanation that Hamlet always wished to kill his father. (See first link
below.)
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