Hamlet

            
             William Shakespeare stated, "Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind (Shakespeare (A Midsummer ))." This quote simply means that love is not just focused on beauty, but what a person has on the inside, like personality. People need to choose mind over beauty. In Hamlet, Prince Hamlet knows what he is seeing, but in his mind he is a little confused. Since the death of his father and new marriage of his mother, Hamlet has taken on a new personality. This new character is shown by how Hamlet wants to get Claudius to admit he killed King Hamlet, and until this is accomplished, Hamlet is going to act crazy to cover up that he knows the truth. Relating back to Shakespeare's quote, love has caused Hamlet great confusion. He loves his mother physiologically, but his mind is not all there to be considered true sexual love. Hamlet is obsessed with the love of his mother, which would be considered incest. Many critics argue that Hamlet suffers the Oedipus complex. Oedipus killed his father and married his mother. Hamlet did not kill his father, but since Claudius did, Hamlet can win his mother over without even killing his own father. Hamlet goes through many steps in his life that cause him to fall in sexual lust with his mother. Hamlet's life can show why he has become sexually attracted to his mother. Hamlet truly does suffer from the Oedipus complex. .
             Hamlet does suffer from the Oedipus complex, which is based on the works of Sigmund Freud. There are different concepts on the Oedipus complex. Sigmund Freud was the one who created the idea in 1897, but others have critiqued it. Freud believed that libido, sexual energy, was blocked by outside forces which caused the start of the Oedipus complex. This usually starts around the age of three for boys, since this is when the boy's attention focuses on his penis. This sexual energy causes him to have uncontrollable feelings for his mother, in turn hating his father.