Hamlet's Oedipal complex with Gertrude and the question of whether or not he was really insane or just feigning it all along.

Michelle Hebert

English 203

11/11/03

Hamlet, the Ultimate Mama's Boy

Hamlet went through various emotional states because of different unfortunate

circumstances that confronted him. Yet Hamlet never went so far over "the edge" so as to

not come back from reality, yet for reasons psychological, he procrastinated actions that

he should have taken until it was too late. I will first discuss Hamlet, the origins for his

queer behavior and if it twas feigned or not. In the first act we see that Hamlet is a sort of idealistic man coming back to the world from university in Wittenburg. Hamlet in this point of the play is a "Renaissance" man, who has never really come in contact with the dark side of humanity. In the very beginning of Act 1 scene 1 the guards dialogue reflects that "there is something rotten in the state of Denmark". It is full of corruption, deceit, passion, ruthlessness, and ambition that Hamlet is not used to (Lidz, 71).

David Garrick in Hamlet, I, 4

Book signing and Hamlet Au's interview with Julian...

Hamlet

His mind temporarily can not handle his situation because, as I will mention later, his mother is at the center of it. He has to try to find meaning, direction and a stable identity in the midst of all the evil about him (Lidz, 73).

We clearly see that Hamlet is quite upset by his mother's quite hasty marriage to his uncle, and this causes some deep seeded emotional problems for Hamlet. I can not talk about Hamlet's emotional state without also going into the fact that Hamlet already

suspects the King of killing his father, before the ghost tells him so (Leavenworth, 34).

First I will elaborate on how Hamlet, at certain times, was clearly not feigning

insanity, but that insanity only lasted for brief periods of time because of the emotional

blows that Hamlet...