Sexuality and Aggression in Hamlet Essay - 1998 Words

Sexuality and Aggression in Hamlet In Man and Wife Is One Flesh: Hamlet and the Confrontation with the Maternal Body, Janet Adelman argues that the motivating force behind the plot action in Hamlet is the collapse of boundaries between relationships of individuals, sexes, and divisions of public (state) and private (love) life. The primary cause of the breakdown results from the bodily contamination spread through overt sexuality, specifically maternal sexuality. Janet Adelman asserts her feminism into the sexist view of psychoanalysis to define the contamination as that power of women that men fear. Adelmans case for the collapse of boundaries is her strength and weakness. Extensive textual evidence†¦show more content†¦The annihilation of sexuality by aggression in Hamlet thus ends all life. Janet Adelman champions the collapse of boundaries in her psychoanalytic essay. Throughout the criticism she reiterates the collapse of the father figures into one another and the subsequent trials of differentiation Hamlet must undergo to secure his position as a son. She sums up the play as a gradual breakdown of necessary boundaries between characters. The male characters do experience a collapse of boundaries. Each man is coupled or tripled with respect to station in life: Old Hamlet, Claudius, and Polonius; Hamlet, Horatio, Laertes, and Fortinbras; Rozencrantz and Guildenstern; Bernardo, Marcellus, Osric, and Voltemand. The foiling of many men at similar, distinct points in life leads to the breakdown of differences generating a father-mass, son-mass, soldier-mass. Rozencrantz and Guildenstern epitomize the dissolution of boundaries and the mixing of individualities as seen in Act I of Stoppards, Rozencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead: My name is Guildenstern, and this is Rosencr antz. / Im sorry-his names Guildenstern, and Im Rozencrantz (Stoppard 1). Each grouping of men vie for similar positions, are subject to the same desires and are all varying versions of each other, thus differentiation becomes more and more difficult until the men become a mass of masculinity instead of distinct characters. Adelman suggests thatShow MoreRelated Freudian Perspectives of Shakespeares Hamlet Essay1528 Words   |  7 PagesPerspectives  of  Hamlet  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The term consciousness refers to one’s awareness of internal and external stimuli. The unconscious contains thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the surface of awareness but that nonetheless exert great influence on behavior.(Weiten) The core of the Freudian perspective is centered around Hamlet’s relationship with his mother, and the relationship of Hamlet and King Claudius. 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