Grendel, Hamlet, And Their Outlook On The Oedipus Complex

Oedipus complex stage is a child’s desire of a sexual gratification of the opposite sex of the parental figure. To resolve tis unconscious conflict of fear and erotic desire within one must characterize themselves with whom they want to be and what they desire. Sigmund Freud believed that little girls had penis envy. In later days men had higher rank than women. Girls were thought to first have a sexual attachment to their mother which eventually transferred to the father in hopes to somehow obtain a penis. According to Freud “Classic Theories and Modern

Differently to what is thought nowadays, the Oedipus complex described by Freud goes beyond just the son 's desire to have sex with his mother. The Oedipus complex includes the teenager 's psychosexual idea of feeling jealousy, anger, and above all, competing with his father. Besides, Freud’s theory emphasizes that boys select their mother as their principal object of desire, and subconsciously wish to usurp or even murder their fathers in order to gain exclusive possession of her and become their mothers ' lover.

The oral stage is the sex instinct centers on the mouth. Besides that, in the anal stage, the infant’s primary method of gratifying the sex instinct is through voluntary urination and defecation (Shaffer, 2008). Furthermore, the phallic stage is where children develop an incestuous desire for the opposite-sex parent. Latency period is where the sexual urges are pushed into sports and hobbies. Finally, the genital stage is when puberty triggers a comeback of sexual urges. The other ideas focused on by Freud were the Oedipus complex. According to Freud, it is the term used to describe a boy’s desires for his own mother and having jealousy and anger towards his father. Note that this is in the unconscious since such desires are unacceptable, and so are blocked from consciousness. Defense mechanism is the processes that distort reality to protect the ego (Friedman & Schustack, 2011). All defense mechanisms share two common properties; the first is that they often appear unconsciously, secondly; they tend to distort, transform, or otherwise misrepresent reality (Darren, 2007).

The Oedipus conflict or complex is a concept developed by Sigmund Freud to explain the origin of certain psychological disorders in childhood. It is defined as a child's unconscious desire for the exclusive love of the parent of the opposite sex. This desire includes jealousy toward the parent of the same sex and the unconscious wish for that parent's death. Horney states that it is not a “biologically given phenomenon” but rather a response to the “provocation’s” of the outside world.(Horney)

The tragedy of Hamlet by William Shakespeare brilliantly recounts the tale of feigned and true madness as it delves into themes of betrayal, incest, revenge, moral corruption, and death. The play, set in the kingdom of Denmark, gives an account of how Prince Hamlet seeks exact revenge on his uncle Claudius, for murdering his own brother and Prince Hamlet’s father. After assassinating King Hamlet, Claudius succeeds the throne and becomes joined in holy matrimony to King Hamlet’s widow and Prince Hamlet’s mother, Queen

Another stage in human growth and development is called the phallic stage. Sigmund Freud believed this stage took place from the age of three to six years old. This is the stage that children become more aware of the sexual regions of their bodies. Not only do they become more self aware but also start to notice their parents and kids around them. This helps them learn the difference in “boy” or “girl” male or female. During this stage it is not uncommon for a child to hook them self onto the parent of opposite sex and start a rivalry with the parent of the same sex (Garcia, 1995). “Individuals who show higher levels in phallic stage of psychosexual development fixation are more likely to develop sexually” (“ Sexual Compulsivity, Promiscuity and Phallic Stage of Psychosexual Development Fixation. ,” 2012, para. 3).

As so from the psychodynamic approach, it is known that gender identity and role are acquired during the third stage of psychosexual development, the phallic stage. Before this, in the oral and anal stages, the child does not have a gender identity and its sexual drives are directed generally. As the child enters the phallic stage, the focus of its libido moves to the genitals and then starts to develop.

king and queen that Hamlet’s madness comes from his love for Ophelia. Hamlet senses that

Freud believed during this stage all needs are satisfied orally or through the mouth; for example, eating and drinking. The anal stage takes place during the second year of life. During this stage the battle between control and letting go begins. The phallic stage takes place during the third and fifth years of life. During this stage a child develops a fixation with the genitals. Freud’s psychosexual stages focus on developmental changes in the first 5 years of life and transformation of the id.

To those he loves - his mother Gertrude and his lady Ophelia - Hamlet adopts a different tact; his belief that he must go alone and confide in no one, save his friend Horatio, results in his terrible mistreatment of his mother and Ophelia. Between "speaking daggers" to Gertrude and imparting to Ophelia that she should get "to a nunnery," Hamlet makes miserable the lives of the women who love him.

The tragic flaw of a human being is usually checked with the method he or she reacts with to the circumstances that life throws upon him or her. Contemporary society appears to be fixated on giving gatherings of people cases of such individuals who, in spite of the affliction of their lives, that still transcend. In fact, maybe nobody is more fit for indicating triumph over struggles than Sophocles and William Shakespeare. In both Oedipus and Hamlet, for example, the primary characters struggle with many obstacles and consequences and find themselves with unimaginable problems furthermore and are compelling to choose what the correct decision will be. This develops to Oedipus and Hamlet becoming motivated, courageous people and also becoming dishonest to themselves throughout the two books. Shakespeare and Sophocles’ plays show that sometimes when dealing with consequences and the obstacles there are different ways to react instead of leading to a tragedy. Oedipus and Hamlet’s motivation in dealing with problems is evident when the two primary characters want to find out the murderers of their father’s. Their courageous actions develop them towards having one goal, which was to kill the former King, and show courageous traits towards other people. They become dishonest to their themselves and is showed throughout the two books, which then causes misfortune for both of them in the end. Despite the resemblances of the two, Hamlet is in control of his activities, and he very

Oedipus and Electra complex in which the child unconsciously wishes to posses the parent of the opposite sex and rid themselves of the parent of the same sex. The result of this desire in boys would experience castration anxiety which would drive them to identify with their fathers. If there is no male figure in this stage of a child’s development it is thought that the child will have problems with authority figures later in life as he has never had the chance to conclude this stage. Freud’s explanation for the female development claiming that they would experience penis envy (a realisation they do not have a penis) they would eventually overcome by achieving motherhood and having their own baby. Latency stage from six years through puberty here the child will develop their confidence and mastery of the world around them. He believed that during this stage their experiences and excitations of previous stages are repressed and children develop infantile amnesia being unable to remember much of their earlier years. The Genital stage from twelve years upwards to adulthood is the culmination of the psychosexual development and the fixing of sexual energy in the genitals. This eventually directs humans towards sexual intercourse and the beginnings of the next cycle of life (Breger, 2009).

Occasionally in literature all of the hardships and pain that tortures a character is actually unknowingly brought onto them by their own actions. In Hamlet(1603), Shakespeare creates Hamlet with a very cautious personality causing him to continuously ponder his next move rather than taking the next step to actually act. After discovering that his father was killed by Claudius, his uncle, Hamlet knows that he must then kill Claudius in order to avenge his father but keeps on making excuses to delay the killing. This delaying leads to so much pain and death of characters that could have quite easily been avoided. In contrast, in Oedipus the King(430 B.C.) Sophocles tells the story of a hero that was cursed with a terrible fate right from the point of his birth. It was prophesied that Oedipus would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother, so his father ordered him to be killed but he lived and then everyone went on trying to stop the prophecy from coming true but that just ended up causing it to happen. In both books the main characters did a play a role in their own demise but were not the sole cause of it. However, whereas Shakespeare displays the nature of Hamlet causing the

Hamlet is the typical kind of son almost every father and mother would want: intelligent, loving, caring, strong and loyal. Yet, some scholars believe that he is just another emotional character, defying our eyes to think that his acts are innocent, when his real purpose is to take his mother for himself. This gives scholars, like Ernest Jones, the impression that Hamlet’s actions were encouraged by an Oedipus complex, characterized by feelings of intense rivalry with a father figure in regards to a mother’s spousal affection. Even though there are lines that can be interpreted to show that Hamlet may have had such a desire for his mother, when these lines are examined in the full context of the

"Oedipus the King" is a tragic play showing a shift from the belief of fate to freedom of choice. Therefore, Oedipus the king is a great example of those who run from fate ends up fulfilling their fate