HAMLET THE PLAY HAS AN OEDIPUS COMPLEX (Frederick Crews)
HAMLET THE CHARACTER MAY NOT HAVE AN OEDIPUS COMPLEX, BUT HAMLET THE PLAY DOES (says critic Frederick Crews).*
The problem with Freudian readings: They accept in advance, as primary truth, another text, before they begin to read the new text.
They accept Freud's quirky reading of the Oedipus tale:
Oedipus unknowingly kills Dad & marries Mom?
Instead of bad karma coming back to Oedipus' father (Laius),
Freud assumes that this must demonstrate a secret sexual desire of all men for their mothers (something not present in the text).
As Tamara Hammond has observed, citing Julia Kristeva's critique of Freud, this relocates the guilt of the violent, negligent father, to a sexually shamed son.
Then this and all related Freudian truths have to be found in, or imposed on, all new texts. Any details that don't conform have to be ignored.
If a new text challenges the Freudian doctrine, it must have penis envy, or perhaps the new text has not yet been sufficiently wrestled into submission.
Hamlet hesitates? Oedipal.
Kills Claudius? Oedipal.
Kisses Yorick's lips and rides Yorick's back? Fantasy of homosexual rear-entry.*
Yes, Freudian readings can contain a variety of insights. But as Paul Ricoeur observed, Freudian hermeneutics are inherently reductionist.
— — — — — — — — — — — —
* As noted by Wm C. Watterson in Hamlet Studies, 1994, p.10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Links to a description of my book project:
On LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/eJGBtqV
On this blog: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/05/hamlets-bible-my-book-project-im.html
[Originally posted around the week of 11/6/17
on LinkedIn]
The problem with Freudian readings: They accept in advance, as primary truth, another text, before they begin to read the new text.
They accept Freud's quirky reading of the Oedipus tale:
Oedipus unknowingly kills Dad & marries Mom?
Instead of bad karma coming back to Oedipus' father (Laius),
Freud assumes that this must demonstrate a secret sexual desire of all men for their mothers (something not present in the text).
As Tamara Hammond has observed, citing Julia Kristeva's critique of Freud, this relocates the guilt of the violent, negligent father, to a sexually shamed son.
Then this and all related Freudian truths have to be found in, or imposed on, all new texts. Any details that don't conform have to be ignored.
If a new text challenges the Freudian doctrine, it must have penis envy, or perhaps the new text has not yet been sufficiently wrestled into submission.
Hamlet hesitates? Oedipal.
Kills Claudius? Oedipal.
Kisses Yorick's lips and rides Yorick's back? Fantasy of homosexual rear-entry.*
Yes, Freudian readings can contain a variety of insights. But as Paul Ricoeur observed, Freudian hermeneutics are inherently reductionist.
— — — — — — — — — — — —
* As noted by Wm C. Watterson in Hamlet Studies, 1994, p.10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Links to a description of my book project:
On LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/eJGBtqV
On this blog: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/05/hamlets-bible-my-book-project-im.html
[Originally posted around the week of 11/6/17
on LinkedIn]
Comments
Post a Comment