In both the time periods of the play Hamlet and Shakespeare’s life, the fundamental basis of morality was established through the ideas of Christianity. By critically analyzing Hamlet through the Freudian psychoanalytical lens, it may be inferred that Shakespeare projected his personal views of Christianity and its followers by using the character Claudius as a tool.
In the beginning of the play, Shakespeare uses a shallow but religious morality to create an illusion that Claudius is a good man. After the celebration of his marriage, Claudius advised Hamlet to move on from grieving over his father’s death because such action displayed “a will most incorrect to heaven” (I.ii.95). Claudius neglects the pain and sorrow of Hamlet in order to uphold …show more content…
At one point in Hamlet, Claudius prays and asks the heavens for forgiveness of his guilty past and to cleanse him to be as “white as snow”, but he quickly gave up as his id’s desire to keep all the “effects” of his murder such as “[his] crown, [his] own ambition, and [his] queen” became too strong (III.iii. 46-55). This shows that even in the midst of God’s presence, human desire for sin defies the religious ego to achieve the id’s desires. C.S Lewis mentions in his book, Mere Christianity, that “bad psychological material… does not need to be repented of, but to be cured” (Lewis 91). This supports the argument that human desires yearned by id can reach a point where it is unable to be forgiven but instead has to be fixed. This was something that Shakespeare could express only through Claudius because he possessed a distinctly unique character. He suddenly gained the ultimate authority and respect of the entire nation in a short interval of time, which contributed to his psychological diminution of his ego and superego. The ego and superego became unnecessary to Claudius because he no longer had to be cautious about the way society viewed him. This does not necessarily mean that people only became corrupted when they were put in a position of authority. Shakespeare expresses his opinion on how even the followers of Christianity possess some sort of violent and obtrusive nature in their unconscious that could one day overpower the morality that has been suppressed by the religious
In the beginning of the play, Shakespeare uses a shallow but religious morality to create an illusion that Claudius is a good man. After the celebration of his marriage, Claudius advised Hamlet to move on from grieving over his father’s death because such action displayed “a will most incorrect to heaven” (I.ii.95). Claudius neglects the pain and sorrow of Hamlet in order to uphold …show more content…
At one point in Hamlet, Claudius prays and asks the heavens for forgiveness of his guilty past and to cleanse him to be as “white as snow”, but he quickly gave up as his id’s desire to keep all the “effects” of his murder such as “[his] crown, [his] own ambition, and [his] queen” became too strong (III.iii. 46-55). This shows that even in the midst of God’s presence, human desire for sin defies the religious ego to achieve the id’s desires. C.S Lewis mentions in his book, Mere Christianity, that “bad psychological material… does not need to be repented of, but to be cured” (Lewis 91). This supports the argument that human desires yearned by id can reach a point where it is unable to be forgiven but instead has to be fixed. This was something that Shakespeare could express only through Claudius because he possessed a distinctly unique character. He suddenly gained the ultimate authority and respect of the entire nation in a short interval of time, which contributed to his psychological diminution of his ego and superego. The ego and superego became unnecessary to Claudius because he no longer had to be cautious about the way society viewed him. This does not necessarily mean that people only became corrupted when they were put in a position of authority. Shakespeare expresses his opinion on how even the followers of Christianity possess some sort of violent and obtrusive nature in their unconscious that could one day overpower the morality that has been suppressed by the religious