Hamlet’s main goal of the play Hamlet is to avenge his father’s death. Throughout the play, Hamlet repeatedly references the end goal. That is what Hamlet wants the most. This idea corresponds to the quote by David Mamet, where “The main question in drama… ‘What does the protagonist want?’ That is what drama is.” He takes it a step further, saying “It’s not about theme, its not about ideas, it’s not about setting, but what the protagonist want.” But there is a small hint of doubt what Hamlet actually wants, because having a character with a singular need for revenge is not what the play is about. Hamlet hesitates multiple times to kill King Claudius, and there are smaller conflicts he has. So the real question is; What is it that Hamlet wants?
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There is some ground for it, with both having a ‘dead’ father, an incestuous mother, and a drive to do something. But the overall stories are different, with Hamlet hating his mother and uncle, loving his father, and his drive is to kill his new father. Oedipus marries his mother, and kills his father, and his drive was to dispose of the evil king. But many analyzers have come to the conclusion that Hamlet and Oedipus may have more in common. John Ashworth’s Olivier, Freud, and Hamlet discusses the strengths and weaknesses of this idea. He debates the idea of the play being changed from “The drama of Hamlet’s life is replaced by the drama of what Hamlet might reveal from a couch” (Document B). But while there are ample pieces of evidence, like “The mad Ophelia [who] makes caressing motions over phallic ornament on the back of a chair, the camera [which] focus with heavy significance on the labial drapes over the Queen’s bed, and [the reason] why Hamlet doesn’t kill the King in the first reel can be explained only [by what is] in Hamlet’s unconscious (Document B). As well as having Freud’s explanation …show more content…
It is stated throughout the play that to achieve his goal, he plans to act mad, and most of his riddles make sense. In Maynard Mack’s The Readiness Is All: Hamlet he covers a large amount of them. In fact, he covers how his riddles addresses the other characters, for example where he tells Ophelia “get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners.” But he also questions the idea of suicide in to be or not to be. But his mind balances between madness and sense. The idea is furthered in Harold Bloom’s Interpretation of Hamlet. He suggests that something in Hamlet dies before the play begins, due to his mother and uncle’s outrageous behavior and his father’s death. In addition, the only character whose relation to Hamlet is positively mentioned is his relation to Yorick the Jester. But Bloom differs in the idea that he says that neither mourning nor revenge is Hamlet’s drive, but rather Hamlet against
There is some ground for it, with both having a ‘dead’ father, an incestuous mother, and a drive to do something. But the overall stories are different, with Hamlet hating his mother and uncle, loving his father, and his drive is to kill his new father. Oedipus marries his mother, and kills his father, and his drive was to dispose of the evil king. But many analyzers have come to the conclusion that Hamlet and Oedipus may have more in common. John Ashworth’s Olivier, Freud, and Hamlet discusses the strengths and weaknesses of this idea. He debates the idea of the play being changed from “The drama of Hamlet’s life is replaced by the drama of what Hamlet might reveal from a couch” (Document B). But while there are ample pieces of evidence, like “The mad Ophelia [who] makes caressing motions over phallic ornament on the back of a chair, the camera [which] focus with heavy significance on the labial drapes over the Queen’s bed, and [the reason] why Hamlet doesn’t kill the King in the first reel can be explained only [by what is] in Hamlet’s unconscious (Document B). As well as having Freud’s explanation …show more content…
It is stated throughout the play that to achieve his goal, he plans to act mad, and most of his riddles make sense. In Maynard Mack’s The Readiness Is All: Hamlet he covers a large amount of them. In fact, he covers how his riddles addresses the other characters, for example where he tells Ophelia “get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners.” But he also questions the idea of suicide in to be or not to be. But his mind balances between madness and sense. The idea is furthered in Harold Bloom’s Interpretation of Hamlet. He suggests that something in Hamlet dies before the play begins, due to his mother and uncle’s outrageous behavior and his father’s death. In addition, the only character whose relation to Hamlet is positively mentioned is his relation to Yorick the Jester. But Bloom differs in the idea that he says that neither mourning nor revenge is Hamlet’s drive, but rather Hamlet against