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    HAMLET AND OEDIPUS by ERNEST JONES, M.D., FR.CP, |W: W- NORTON & COMPANY [New York London TRAGEDY AND THE MIND OF THE INFANT | | Law wane that thote Shakespearean critics who have enjoyed no special opportonities for penetrating | into the ebecrer aspects of mental activites, and who bate their views of human mative on the urfice valuae tion given by the agents themselver—to whom allcon- duct whether good or bad at all events springs fom purely consciows sourcer—are likely to rogard the uggestion put forward above as merely constiing one Inore ofthe extravagant and ancl hypothe of which the Hamlet literature in particular itso replete? For the sake, howeven, of thowe who may be interested t0 apprehend the pont of view from which thi strange iypothess seems probable T feel constrained to inter- pole a fow considerations on two matters that are not all commonly appreciated at their tee importance — namely, cls felings of jealouiy and his aitude towards death “The whole subject of featosy in children to clouded cover with prejudice that even wellnown facts ate ether | gpoced of are not estimated a their tre significance. | Stanley Hal, for instance, in his eneyclopnedi treatise, rakes a numberof very ort remark onthe importance ‘tthe subject in adolescence, but implies that before the fge of puberty this pasion is of relatively Ble con- "A ect Amen i J.B, Hagin: The Charger of a ep sa ar Sele 7 » avert aso onoiros fequence. It was reserved for the genetic studi of eycho-anaytic esearch to demonstrate the lasting and Profound iofnence that inate jeslouin may have Spon later character reactions and epon the whole ure of pers ie "The clove relation between adalt jealowy and the deste forthe removal ofthe sival bythe most ete means, that of death, and also the common proces of suppreson of such felines, is elealyHtstated in a Tennark of Stanley Halls to the effct that "Many a foble and even great man has confewed that mingled ‘wth profound grief forthe death and misfortune of their best frend, they were often appalled to ind a vein af secret joy and satisfaction, a if their own spre were larger of betes". He has doubles in ind ch passages as the following ffom La. Rochefoucauld= "Dane Padversté de nos aileurs ami, ity a quelque hone ne nous dept pas”. A sina thoughts ‘more openly expresed by: Bernard. Shaw* when he ‘makes Bon Juan inthe Hell Sen, remark: "You may emember that on earth—though of coune we never Confatedit—the death of any one we tne, even those we liked best, was aways mingled wth a eran sti Fiction at bela finaly done wit them Such ey in the adults exceoded to an incomparable extent by that ofthe childs with its notorious, and tothe parents often heartbreaking, egotism, with is undeveloped soil instincts and with i ignorance of the dread signcnce fdeath. A child very often unexsoningly interprets the various oeroachments on its piviteges sind the abtacles ‘Annis Suey is Goan Rane to ce Bch. AERIALS, tan ‘Stanley Hall: Adolescence, rg08, Val. I, + Brat Shaan od Bufo gsi. ‘TRAGEDY AND THE MIND OF THE INFANT 73, interposed to the immediate gratification of its desires, ‘as meaningless eruelty, and the more imperative is the dese that has been thwarted the more pronounced isthe hostility towards the agent ofthis supposed cruelty, ‘meat often of course a parent. The most important en croachment, and the most frequent, is that made on the child's desire for affection. The resting hostility is very ‘often seen on the occasion of the birth of a subsequent child, and is usually regarded with amusement as an ‘added contribution to the general gaicty called forth by the happy event. When a child, on being told that the doctor has brought him another playfellow, responds withthe ery “Tell him to take it away again”, he intends this, however, not, as is commonly believed, as a joke for the entertainment of his elders, but as an eafnest ‘expression of his intuition that in future unless his er de ‘our be complied with, he will have to renounce his previously unquestioned pre-eminence in the family Circle, a matter that to him is serious enough, "The second point, on which there is also much mis- understanding, is that ofthe child's attitude towards the rubject of death, it being commonly assumed that this is necessarily the same as that of an adult. When a child first hears of anyone's death, the only part ofits meaning that he reales is that the person is xa longer thre, a consummation which time and again he has fervently ‘desired when being interfered with by the persons around him, Tes only gradually that the grimmer implications ‘of the phenomenon are borne in upon him, When, therefore, a child expresses the wish that a given person, even a near relative, would die, our feelings would not beso shocked as they sometimes are, were we to interpret the wish from the point of view of the child. The same remark applies to the dreams of adults in Which the ie er re lillie Reese em tla : mat 0 coer Seaton nde eer ea wich the ings wall Dyanna: Bacontcaeriant chee thc othe tess eto nde as “ier tr te er cnn aay tc oa Ofte tent ine epee a tnt pe et a a Si hy nn ney wes ton oe famine ence Soo yan ie» fm eed aes cient cng oss ee Jealousy between children in the same family, pointed tate ple dag sig Rem st “isan yee oe Sana ere Time tno the at fence tat dod sy spel, bes ee tread ye ply Sipe, at ing nh ati le Ee ahve oe hay le, cag tots pany nd pcre et Src that yea da pe sce rig es Fad ee Bi pycioamiye mel 1 pane oe trenton rhe aye rammed rae nae canted rl tc ena Sis hey el ese Sy ae a ining id ape ce iment eae tb ant ene reine em pate apc os Fan ey tty Edy aired il Shean ede Pil in: The Pyeho-Analj of Cle, 19g [TRAGEDY AND THE MIND OF THE TANT 75, the distresing aspects of our international relations, including even the tortures and other atrocities. Violent and ruthless impulses of destruction (ie. murder in adult language) follow on the inevitable minor privations of this period. The jealouses, hatreds, and murderous im- pulses of which signs may be detected in childhood are, in fact, the weakened derivatives of a very sinister inher. tance we bring to the world and which somehow has to be worked through and chastened in the painful conflicts and emotions of infancy. To say that alater reaction toa situation is excessive is simply to say that contributions have been made to it by the unconscious, ic. the still living infantile mind. Before humour and other aids to mental digestion make their appearance these aspects of the infant's mind are entirely tragic, and all the tragedies of poets are ultimately derived from them, ‘Of the infantile jealouses the most important, and the fone with which we are here occupied, is that experienced by a boy towards his father. The precise form of early relationship between child and father is in general a ‘matter of vast importance in both sexes and plays a pre- dominating part in the future development of the child's character; the theme has been expounded in an interest- ing essay by Jung,! where he gives it ite due importance, though to the one-sided exclusion of the mother’ fluence. ‘The only aspect that at present concerns us is the resentment felt by a boy towards his father when the latter disturbs, as he necessarily must, his enjoyment of his mother’s exclusive affection. This feeling is the deepest source of the world-old conflict between father and son, between the younger and the older generation, _jJu08 Die Betwang de Ve fi Sei di ie lal Jet fr pox ad pppetie * suet Axo ones the fvourite theme of 10 many poets and writers, the central maf of most mythologies and religions, "The fundamental inporance that ths conflict and the accompanying breaking away of the child from the authority of hs parents, has both forthe individual and for society is clearly stated in the fllowing passage of Freud's! “The detachment of the growing tadivual from the authority of the parents one of the most necessary, but also one of the mort pal, achievements of development. Tis sbulutly ncesary frie tbe carried oat, and ve may assume that every normal hnuman being has oa ertain extent managed t achieve it, Indeed, the progres of sacety depends in general on this opposition ofthe two generation” Tt was Freud! who fine demonstated, when desing with the subject ofthe eave manifestations of the exual instinct in children, thatthe contin queson rest in heist ort oneal ground Heh Showa he inwtint does not at Is generally supposed difer from other biological fonction byraddenly leaping into blag ft the ageof puberty inal fll and developed acs, but that lke other functions i¢-undergoes a gradual oluton and only slowly attain the parteular frm in hich we now it in the adult. A child has to learn how to love just a thas to learn how fo wal, although the former funtion sso mich more inleate and deiate in itsadjustment than the latter thatthe development itis a correspondingly slower and more invelved proces, “el canti pby Rek De ya wn carers try Rahs De a nn Repeat ein i es aa de Hie es fehvigen Rabe" jah poo = arlange 095, He Poa * Freud: Del Abandiungen nt Sxtalteoi, Auf 1900 VRAGEDY AND THE MIND OF THE IWRANT 77 ‘The earliest sexual manifestations are so palpably un- adapted to what is generally considered tobe the ultimate ‘im of the function, and are so general and tentative in Contrast with the relative precision of the later ones, that the sexual nature of them is commonly not recognized at all. ‘This important theme cannot be further pursued here, bat it must be mentioned hov inevitably these earliest dim awakenings are evoked by the intimate physical rela: tions existing between the child and the persons of his immediate environment, above all, therefore, his mother. ‘When the attraction exercised by the mother is excessive it may exert a controlling influence over the boy's later destiny; a mass of evidence in demonstration ofthis, 100 ‘extensive to refer to in detail, has been published in the psycho-analytical literature. Of the various results that ‘may be caused by the complicated interaction between this influence and others, only one or two need be men- tioned. Ifthe awakened passion undergoes an insufficient “repression”, then the boy may remain throughout life abnormally attached to his mother and unable to love any other woman, a not uncommon cause of bachelor- hhood. He may be gradually weaned from the attach- ‘ment if iis less strong, though it often happens that the weaning is incomplete so that he is able to fall in love only with women who in some way resemble the mother; the latter occurrence is a frequent cause of marriage between relatives, as has been interestingly pointed out by Abraham. The maternal influence may also manifest itself by imparting a strikingly tender feminine side to the later character:? When, on the other hand, the idbsleg:"Nerwndtense ond esr” Nal Za “igri Hane scares a ten ben these come densi "Hamlet", Wotan Hire ment! Soe especial 8 HAMLET AND oxDirUs aroused feeling is intensely “repressed” and associated with shame, guilt and similar reactions the submergence ‘may be so complete as to render the person incapable of experiencing any feeling at all of attraction for the ‘opposite sex; to him all women are as forbidden a his ‘mother. This may declare itself in pronounced misogyny ‘or even, when combined with other factors, in actual homosexuality, as Sadger* has shown, ‘The attitude towards the successfal rival, namely the father, also vaties with—among other factors—the extent to which the aroused feelings have been “repressed”. IF this is only slight, then the natural resentment against the father may be more or les openly manifested latet om, a rebellion which occurs commonly enough, though the ‘rue meaning ofitis not recognized. To this source many tocial revolutionaries—perhaps all—owe the original impetus of their rebelliousness against authority, as can ‘often be plainly traced—for instance, with Shelley and Mirabeau.? The unimpeded train of thought in the tne conscious logically culminates in the idea, or rather the wish, that the father (or his substitute) may disappear from the scene, ic. that he may dic, Shakespeare himself Provides a good example of this (King Henry IV, Part I1) the scene between the dying King and his son: Me fp Yates agin nas ap Ss es i hl Seu pmee meee ant Era Nae By oes et Sey ate Ls tert Ont ‘iy which rr a ee ee ee eee etek fr ate Suse roe BBE, eae ee Ce cl Seca = 1908; “Zur Astiologie der Kontriren Sexualempfindung”, Medic: ase: See Wits. Pe rage Motive, 1911, 8.159. TRAGEDY AND THE MOND OF TLE INFANT 79 Prince Henry. T never thought to hear you speak again. King Henry. Thy wish was father, Harry to that thought. 15 on he ther han, te “ete is ese then the ent ‘owas the fer il be care rpondingy ces om crue th ea comput y the devlpment he epee tment namely of sapere repr ae eet Hin ‘and's morbid acide ors we? whch comply cnet unering latent ‘hecompleexprain ef he eprene’ wi not nly tha the ie shuld ib tnt he so soa then apse the mother, Diderot wil anihing ine openly exposed it pa den, "“Tewe nee Ie unehe an our Hdl stent only ce op to that of our panty we woud wring ot fhe? deca esp wit our moter The sade oon to prens is rancor tated inthe Gc legen a develaped fr intancen Sop tage, thn the group Sf menial proceae In que fencrly Known nde the fame of the "Ocipu THe aT now ins pon to epend and compete TEN teat anton «heaton gto seed oe A sera eng wt op RACE cee Ew ae oe iuiace teres oeer ese as Seu bition ines geome ee raat ye te "et BPA lang go 8 8 Vale ete Se Fe ee ea ete orc at Sa Oe SSP Som ce, the Aa Pep th li ca Se csr Ren pcan ‘an excellent analysis of the Gedipus legend. eT 80 HAMLET AND oxpirus the suggestions offered above in connection with the Hamlet problem The story thus interpreted would run somewhat a follows. As a child Hamlet had experienced the warmest affection for his mother, and this, as is always so, had ‘contained elements of a disguised erotic quality, still ‘more so in infancy. The presence af two traits in the Queen's character accord with this assumption, namely hher markedly sensual nature and her passionate fondness for her son. The former is indicated in too many places in the play to need specific reference, and is generally recognized. The latter is also manifest: Claudius says, for instance (Act TV, Se. 7), The Queen his mother lives almost by his looks”. Nevertheless Hamlet appears to have with more or less success weaned himself from hher and to have fillen in love with Ophelia. The precise nature of his original fecling for Ophelia is a litle obscure. We may assume that at least in part it was composed of a normal love for a prospective bride, though the extravagance of the language used (the passionate need for absolute certainty, et) suggests a Somewhat morbid frame of mind, There are indications that even here the influence of the old attraction for the mother is still exerting itself Although some writers! following Goethe, see in Ophelia many traits of resemb= “gem trop ie, aly fly Free wee share eer lat lg Feige inte ina Pe eh ica lg te Lact eee i ty tae a a aa Sean ee et oe Pee be geet ie a jhe reat tat Hale lst Of "You are Hue my mcs; you coh Goce: Withee: Miter, 10, 14° Her whale being hovees ee [TRAGEDY AND THE SIND OF THE KWFANT BL lance to the Queen, perhaps just as striking are the traits contrasting with those of the Queen. Whatever, truth there may be in the many German conceptions of ‘Ophelia as a sensual wanton'—misconceptions that have been questioned by Loening? and others—stll the very ty such libidinous thoughts demonstrates in itself the ‘modesty and chasteness of her habitual demeanour. Her naive piety, her obedient resignation, and her un- reflecting simplicity sharply contrast with the Queen's character, and seem to indicate that Hamlet by a charac- teristic reaction towards the opposite extreme had knowingly been impelled to choose a woman who shou Teast remind him of his mother. A case might even be ‘made out for the view that part of hs courtship originated not so much in direct attraction for Ophelia as in an “unconscious desire to play her off against his mother, ust ‘asa disappointed and piqued lover so often has resort to the arms of a more willing rival. It would not be easy ‘otherwise to understand the readiness with which he later ‘throws himself nto this part. When, for instance, in the play scene he replies to his mother's request to sit by her with the words “No, good mother, here's metal more attractive” and proceeds to lie at Ophilia's feet, we seem to have a direct indication ofthis attitude; and his coarse familiarity and bandying of ambiguous jests with the ‘woman he has recently so ruthlessly jilted are hardly ae oes eee en Se ee Batre ene lata eB Fe ea ee cers Tete eee gate ee Te Bea at eam ete Bee eer und ee Opi le unles we bear in mind that they were carried out under the heedful gaze of the Queen. Tt is as if his unconscious were trying to convey to her the following thought: “You give yourself to other men whom you prefer to me. Let me assure you that Ican dispense with Your favours and even prefer thote of woman whom I nolonger love.” His extraordinary outburst of bawdiness ‘on this oceasion, so unexpected in a man of obviously fine feeling, points unequivocally to the sexual nature of the underlying turmoil ‘Now comes the father's death and the mother’s second marriage. ‘The association of the idea of sexuality with his mother, buried since infancy, can no longer be con= cealed from his consciousness. As Bradley! well saye: "Her ton was forced to see in her action not only an astounding shallowness of feeling, but an eruption of coarse sensi ality ‘rank and gross,’ speeding post-haste to its horrible delight". Feelings which once, in the infancy of long ago, were pleasurable desires can now, because of his repres- sions, only fill im with repulsion. ‘The lang “repressed” desire to take his father’s place in hie mother’s affection is stimulated to unconscious activity by the sight of some- ‘one usurping this place exactly as he himself had once longed to do. More, this someone was a member of the same family, so that the actual usurpation further resembled the imaginary one in being incestuous. With- ‘out his being in the least aware oft these ancient desires are ringing in his mind, are once more struggling to find constious expression, and need such an expenditure of energy again to “repress” them that he is reduced to the deplorable mental state he himself so vividly depicts, ‘There follows the Ghosts announcement that the father’s death was a willed one, was due to murder. * Bradley: opty p18 [TRAGEDY AND THE wiND OP THE INFANT 83 Hamlet, having at the moment his mind filled with natural indignation at the news, answers normally ‘enough withthe ery (Act I, Se. 5) Haste me to know "that I with wings as swift ‘As meditation or the thoughts of love, May seep to my revenge ‘The momentous words follow revealing who was the guilty person, namely a relative who had committed the deed at the bidding of ust Hamlet’ socond guilty wish hnad thus also been realized by his uncle, namely to pro- care the fulfilment of the frst—the possession of the ‘mother—by a personal deed, in fact by murder of the father. ‘The two recent events, the father's death and the mother's second marriage, seemed to the world to hhave no inner causal relation to each other, but they represented ideas which in Hamlet's unconscious fantasy hnad always been closely associated, ‘These ideas now in & moment forced their way to conscious recognition in spite of all “repressing forces”, and found immediate expression in his almost relex'ery: “O my prophetic soul! My uncle?”. ‘The frightful truth his uncons had already intuitively divined, his consciousness had now to assimilate as best it could. For the rest of the interview Hamlet is stonned by the effet ofthe internal conflict thus re-awakened, which from now on never ceases, and into the essential nature of which he never penetrates. (One of the first manifestations of the awakening of the old conflict in Hamlet's mind is is reaction against Ophelia, This is doubly conditioned by the two opposing, 2 tating hat thay 07 mean hi whe spots Ey every «pet oe a oe & aster AxD onpirus attitudes in his own minds Tn the frst place, there i a ‘complex reaction in regard to his mother. As was ex- plained above, the being forced to connect the thought ‘of his mother with sensuality leads to an intense sexual revulsion, one that is only temporarily broken doven by the coarse outburst diseussed above. Combined with this is a fierce jealousy, unconscious because of it forbidden origin, atthe sight of her giving herself to another man, ‘a man whom he had no reason whatever either to love of to respect. Consciously this is allowed to express ite, for instance after the prayer scene, only in the form of extreme resentment and bitter reproaches against her. His resentment against women is still farther inflamed by the hypocritical prudishness with which Ophelia follows her father and brother in secing evil in his natural affection, an attitude which poisons his love in exactly the same way that the love of his childhood, like that of all children, must have been poisoned. He can forgive a woman neither her rejection of his sexual advances nor, still less, her alliance with another man. Mott intolerable of all to him, as Bradley well remarks, is the sight of sensuality in'a quarter from which he had wained himself ever since infancy rigorously to exclude it. The total reaction culminates in the bitter misogyny of his ‘outburst against Ophelia, who is devastated at having to Dear a reaction so wholly out of proportion to her own, offence and has no idea that in reviling her Hamlet is really expressing his bitter resentment against his mother.) “I have heard of your paintingt too, well 2 His spilar tone and advice tthe wo women. show plaily how ell they are ented in bie ind. “Cp et te to 0 une: why went thou bea breeder ofstneet? (Ae I, Se 5) swith ean tonight And tha sal Tend a Kind ine To te ext abtience™ (Ae, So “The identification is frther'demonetated in the coute of the Se TRAGEDY AND THE MIND OF THE NEAT 85 enough; God has given you one face, and you make yourselves anothers you jig, you amble, and you lisp, 4nd nickname God's ereatures, and make your wanton nest your ignorance. Go to, Fl no more on "tt hath rade me mad” (Act II, Se. 1). On only one oceasion does he fora moment escape fot the sordid implication ‘with which his love has been impregnated and achieve a healthier atte towards Opti namely at the open grave when in remorse he breaks out at Laertes for resuming to pretend that his fling for her could ver equal that of her lover. Even here, however, as ‘Dover Wilbon’ has suggested, the remorse behind his ‘exaggerated behaviour springs not v0 much fiom grief at ‘Opheta's death as from his distres at his bad conscience that had Killed his lovee acts the lover he fain would have been Hamlets auitude towards Ophelia sail more com- plex. Dover Wilton? hat adduced good evidence for {inking that Hamlet x suppoted to ave overheard the intrigue in which Polonius “lowes” his daughter to text, Ihe erthile lover, a suggestion which ad previously ‘been made by Quincy Adams. This is probably an echo ofthe old (Saxo) sags in which the gil is employed by the king to text his capacity for sexual love and so decide whether he is an imbecile ot a cunning enemy. certainly helps to explain the violence with which he attacks her feminine charms and treats her worse than ald prostitute, He feck thei sent to lure him on and then, lke his mother, to betray him at the behest of eps nto ea wen i ad ne ‘amie ‘roel (lal sad Yep. ne 27 ie fw: “Commentary” in his edition of “Hamlet, Prince "020, pease. i erm hee lian tn in a 86 MAMLET AND onDirUs ‘another man. The words “Get thee to a nunnery” thus hhave a more sinister connotation, for in Elizabethan, and indeed in later, times this was alo a term for a brothel; the name “Covent Garden” will elucidate the point to any student ofthe history of London. ‘The underlying theme relates ultimately tothe spitting of the mother image which the infantile unconscious effects into two oppasite pictures: one of a virginal Madonna, an inaccessible saint towards whom all sensual approaches are unthinkable, and the other of a sensual creature accessible to everyone. Indications of this dichotomy between love and fast (Titian’s Sacred and Profane Love) are to be found later in most men’s sexual experiences. When sexual repression is highly ‘pronounced, as with Hamlet, then both types of women are felt to be hostile: the pure one out of resentment at her repulses, the sensual one out of the temptation she offers to plunge into gultiness. Misogyny, as in the play, is the inevitable result, ‘The intensity of Hamlets repulsion against woman in general, and Ophelia in particular, is measure of the powerful “repression” to which hie sexual feelings are being subjected. The outlet for thore feelings in the direction of his mother has always been firmly dammed, ‘and now that the narrower channel in Ophelia’ direction hhas also been closed the increase inthe original direction, consequent on the avakening of early memories tasks all his energy to maintain the “repression”. His pent-up feelings find a partial vent in other directions. ‘The ‘and explosive outburst called forth by his vexation at the hands of Guildenstern and This exhortation (with is ual connetaton of chastity) may be equnted wth the one addreued later to har sothes So nk ‘bed indicating Hamlet's Senestion tthe we eS [TRAGEDY AXD THE MIND OF THE IWPANT 87 Rosencrantz, and expecially of Polonius, are evidently tobe interpreted in this way, as als i in part the burning nature of his reproaches to his mother. Indeed, towards the end of his interview with his mother the thought of her misconduct expreses itself in that almost physical disgust which is s0 characteristic a manifestation of intensely “represted” sexual feeling. Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed, Pinch wanton on your check, call you his mouse, ‘And let him for a pair ofrechy kises, (r paddling in your neck with is dama’d fingers, Make you to rave allthis matter out (Act II, Se. 4) Hamlets atte ovr Polo ily noe se Heh in of ny df the ar ten nls nt ntl ore Teta exe he Rit or at he eg S'S png and sents tr Tae ansloy ie taf Lerner Scaectn pip pn het that west ii nmr tad a erg cc ws tn pone tive plo fe ong Si he cdi ad eae pre ive dase: coat famine, wee cy golds he Gretel anes fos annie itl nat Hn i gery eng pre pee cate aera eal ie Bog ate quiver Obbcn so be Sos Seiya atnramed cater Be Tepe nt ng cee encloses ett Sa 88 HAMLET AND ospieut It will be seen from the foregoing that Hamlet's atti tude towards his uncle-father is far more complex than is generally supposed. He of course detests him, but itis the jealous detestation of one evildoer towards his successful fellow. Much as he hates him, he can never denounce him with the ardent indignation that boils straight from his blood when he reproaches his mother, for the more vigorously he denounces his uncle the ‘more powerfully does he stimulate to activity his own unconscious and “repressed” complexes. He is therefore in a dilemma between on the one hand allowing his natural detestation of his uncle to have free play, a con- summation which would stir stil further his own horrible wishes, and on the other hand ignoring the imperative call for the vengeance that his obvious duty demands, His own “evil” prevents him from completely de- nouncing his uncle's, and in continuing to “repres” the former he must strive to ignore, to condone, and if possible even to forget the latter; hs moral fate ie bound up with his uncle's for good er ill. In reality his uncle incor- pporates the deepest and most buried part of his own personality, so that he cannot kill him without also Kalling himself. This solution, one closely akin to what Freud! has shown to be the motive of suicide in melan- hola, is actualy the one that Hamlet finally adopts. ‘The course of alternate action and inaction that he ‘embarks on, and the provocations he gives to his suspicious uncle, can lead to no other end than to his own jin and, incidentally to that of his uncle, Only when he hhas made the final sacrifice and brought hime to the | door of death is he free to fall his duty, to avenge his father, and to slay his other sel his uncle. 1 Freud: “Trauer upd Melancholic", Viere Sammlung Kline Schifien, 1918, Kap. RX * TRAOEDY AND Tu MD OF THE NANT — 89 “There are two moment i the play when he nearest to murder, andi noteworthy tha in both the impale har been dinciated fom the tnbearble en of nc “The seoond sof course when he actualy kl the King, when the Queen is already dead and lost to him for ever, to that bis concence i fle ofan altetior motve fot {header The fst mre interesting. tis leat Ut Hamlet a creatire of highly charged imagination; Vincer, tor itance, quie Highly termed am. "Phantaemensch" As known, the danger then i {hat panty ny on ecaton replace ealtye Now Ont Ran, who tues the same term, has plausibly suggested thatthe emotionally chaged play cae, where a nephew Lis his uncle(), and wien there ino talk of adultery or {ocean Hamlets imagination an equivalent fh ing bite Tei easier tol the King when theres ao terior motive behind ft no tlk of mother or ince. ‘When the play i over he cari away in craton as he had realy killed the King himsel, whereas all he tan actly dave ist warn hin dad so impel him te Sign death warrant, ‘That ht petent or aranging the play—to satiny himelf about Cadue guilt snd the hres hooes—isspecous is plan frm the fet hat ‘fe ithe a been convinced of both and was reproach ing hielo his neglect. When he then comes on 21, Vighr: “are, Prin von Divemark io Stakepare "TOuo Rani: "Dat Schawpie in Hale", fa, Jorg. 1V, ‘Sheree a dticate pot hee which nay appeal cal to paycho- analy, Tet hon tht the ceeurence es dream witon a SES wt on ia tone etn) sa od Yoniy a dream, hs got tus f would ight a dtr ening techs a lay wid ply Hani islet (sep) ca ng ahi imaginain ce it nd play ae only in play a 9° Her AND oxDiees ‘the King praying, and soto speak finds him surprisingly sill alive, he realizes that his task i til a font of him, bout can only say “Now might Ido it” (not will”), He then express openly the unconscious thoughts of his Jnfaney—the wish to kill the man who is lying with his ‘mother (“in th incestuous pleasure of his bed”) but he knows only too well hat his own gulty motive for doing 80 would alvays prevent him. So thee ir no way out of the dilemma, and he blunders on to destruction. The call of duty to bill his stepfather cannot be obeyed because it links itself with the unconscious cll ofhis nature to kill hs mother's husband, whether this is the frst or the second; the absolte “represion” of the former impulse involves the inner prohibition of the latter also, Tt isno chance that Hamlet say ofhimeelf that he is Prompted to his revenge “by heaven and hel”. In this discussion ofthe motives that move oF restrain Hamlet we have purposely depreciated the subsidiary fones—such as his exclusion ffom the throne where Claudius has blocked dhe normal solution ofthe Oedipus complex (to suceed the father in due courte)—wbich also play a part, so as to bring out in greater reli the Aleper and effective ones that are of preponderating m= portance. "These, as we have seen, spring from sources of which he is quite unaware, and we the internal confit of which he i the viet as consisting in a struggle of the “epresed” mental proceses 10 become conscious. ‘The eal of duty, which automaticaly arouses to activity thee unconscious proceser,conficts with the necesity of “represing” them sill more Srongly; for the more urgent is the need for external action the grater isthe effort demanded ofthe “represe- ing? forces. It is his moral duty, to which is father exhorts him, to put an end to the incestuous activities eonenes ee aman son tenance lan acer er ae Lr {TRAGEDY AND THE MIND OF THE INFANT gt ‘of his mother (by killing Claudius), but his unconscious does not want to put an end to them (he being identified ‘with Claudius in the situation), and to he cannot. His lashings of selPreproach and ‘remorse are ultimately because of this very failure, ie, the refusal of his guilty wishes to undo the sin. By refusing to abandon his own incestuous wishes he perpetuates the sin and ao must endure the stings of torturing conscfence. And yet killing his mother’s husband would be equivalent to committing the original sin himself, which would if anything be even more guilty. So of the two imposible alternatives he adopts the passive solution of letting the incest continue vicarious, but at the same time provoking destruction, at the King’s hand. Was ever a tragic figure so tora and. tortured! ‘Action is paralysed at its very inception, and there is thus produced the picture of apparently eatseless inhibi tion which is so inexplicable both to Hamlet! and to readers of the play. This paralysis arises, however, not from physical or moral cowardice, but from that intel= Tectual cowardice, that reluctance to dare the exploration, of his inmogt soul, which Hanalet shares with the rest of the human face. "Thus conscience does make cowards of | us all Tie stamon py dept y Hart ini ry (et 1, =) pa 1 on yet Live ty Biot ve ese, 20d il, out cng and mean,

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