"The Kings to Blame" In all myths, tragedies and plays there is always a tragic hero. ... In "Oedipus Rex", Oedipus was also the character that was looked to as the savior and was asked to find the murderer of King Liaus. ... Claudius kills poisons the king and marries the kings wife to become king. ... In "Hamlet", King Claudius starts the trend by poisoning King Hamlet so that he can become king. ... Madness and lack of control play a big part in both plays. ...

• Word Count: 1038
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

In Shakespeare's most famous tragedy, Hamlet, this dominant theme of revenge saturates the play and is the manipulative influence behind the actions that make the play a tragedy. ... The ghost of Hamlet's father, the old King, introduces the first ideas of vengeance into Hamlet's mind. The ghost tells Hamlet that he was wrongfully killed at the hands of his traitorous brother, the present King Claudius. ... First, it is claimed that Hamlet suffered from an Oedipus complex in a slight sense. ... If Hamlet did indeed have the Oedipus complex then it helps explain many of his acti...

• Word Count: 988
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Oedipus killed his father and married his mother. ... There are different concepts on the Oedipus complex. ... Hamlet does love his mother, but early in the play he falls in love with Ophelia. ... Hamlet states, "Not this, by no means, that I bid you do: / Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed" (III.iv.183-184). ... Hamlet is a play that can be related to the Oedipus complex. ...

• Word Count: 1901
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Hamlet's Oedipus Complex towards his mother linked with his profound feelings of melancholia are the direct roots of his other problems. What is the Oedipus complex and what is melancholia? To start, here is the definition of the Oedipus Complex. ... This is a direct cause of Hamlet's constant feelings of deep melancholia throughout the play. ... The king proposes a duel in which Hamlet will meet his "assured" doom. ...

• Word Count: 1687
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

Upon examining Shakespeare's characters in this play, Hamlet proves to be an exceedingly complex character, and functions as the key element to the development of the play. ... He wants the murder of the King to be perfect. ... Hamlet spends too much time planning and not enough time doing, thus making the King's murder more complicated and belated. ... Under this light, Hamlet cannot kill Claudius until he can prove that he poisoned the late king. ... Some critics attribute Hamlets inability to act to an Oedipus complex. ...

• Word Count: 1772
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

"A was a goodly king." ... Fortinbras vows revenge on King Hamlet. ... This is why he decides to use the play within a play to provoke a reaction from Claudius. ... "I doubt some foul play." ... There is also a suggestion of the Oedipus complex, which would obviously have made Hamlet crave revenge even more. ...

• Word Count: 2360
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

KING Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius? ... KING At supper? ... KING Alas, alas. ... KING What dost thou mean by this? ([IV.iii.16-31] Bloom 62); Hamlet verbally plays with the King and the King unable to match or understand the obviously superior wit and mind of Hamlet, presents Hamlet with a weak antagonist. ...

• Word Count: 1115
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

In Shakespeare's play, the death of Old King Hamlet triggers different actions in its major characters; especially Hamlet, Gertrude, Claudius, Laertes, and to a lesser extent Polonius and Ophelia. ... Because of this tendency, psychologists have concluded that Hamlet must have suffered from an Oedipus complex (pinkmonkey.com). According to the renowned psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, all males possess this tendency, which is marked by a desire to kill their fathers and marry their mothers; as occurs in the earlier Greek play of Oedipus the king. ... This weakness was copied from Thomas Kyd&#...

• Word Count: 1979
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

This is foreshadowed in the opening of the play; "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." ... The murder of Old King Hamlet has caused Claudius' mindset to become corrupted in order to control Denmark for himself. ... Shakespeare uses sexual imagery to signify Hamlet as a literary example of a child, who never overcame his Oedipus complex. ... At the beginning of the play, Claudius is appearing to be a good king in order to reinstate stability to Denmark after the death of their former king, Old King Hamlet, "Yet we with wisest sorrow think on him Together with remembrance of ...

• Word Count: 1108
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Hamlet has been accused of having an Oedipus complex since Sigmund Freud first introduced the concept. ... Hamlet pursues stopping this crime throughout the play. ... He compares his recent murder of Polonius to her incest: "A bloody deed-almost as bad, good mother, as kill a king, and marry with his brother... The incest drives the play to conclusion. ... A recurrent theme in the play is the continued wantonness of his mother. ...

• Word Count: 736
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School