Prodigal is Oedipal spelled badly - Biblical Allusions as Lenses for Hamlet

HAMLET AS PRODIGAL (OEDIPAL SPELLED BADLY)

OEDIPAL [1]:
Freud claimed that men want to kill their fathers and possess their mothers, like Oedipus, whose father (Laius) was in fact a jerk. Laius made bad karma, abandoning his son to die.[2]
- Oedipus doesn't know he was saved and adopted, so he thinks the prophecy means he will kill his adoptive father and marry his adoptive mother. He doesn't want that, so he flees.
- While fleeing, his biological father is cruel to him on the road, and Oedipus kills him, not knowing it is his father.
- Having suffered trauma as a child, Oedipus may be lashing out in revenge at a stranger who happens to be his father.

All fathers die, most before their sons. But the tale is also a metaphor for how children need to establish their own identities as distinct from their parents (though some sons may "want a girl / just like the girl / that married dear old Dad," as the song says.[3])

We can follow Freud and read Hamlet as Oedipal.

PRODIGAL? [4]
"Prodigal" is a word Laertes and Polonius both use in 1.3 to warn Ophelia about being too free with Hamlet. “Prodigal" alludes to a Bible tale that may apply as well (or better) to Laertes and Polonius as to Ophelia.

In stark contrast to Freud's Oedipus, the prodigal son finds a different way to establish his identity:
1. He asks his father for his share of his inheritance, travels away [5], and wastes it.
2. He realizes that he ruined his life, so, filled with regret, he goes back home and begs his father for mercy, asking to be treated as a slave.

IF WE THINK HAMLET IS MOSTLY ABOUT REVENGE,
Freud's reading of the Oedipus tale may be more attractive.

IF WE SPOT MOMENTS OF REGRET AND REPENTANCE IN THE PLAY,
the prodigal son tale is a very different lens through which to view the play.

But it's not a binary. Why abandon either option? It is a play about both: revenge, yes, but also regret and repentance.

'Prodigal' sort of rhymes with 'Oedipal':
if you swap the R and G in Prodigal for an E,
you can spell 'Oedipal.'

So 'Prodigal'
is 'Oedipal'
spelled badly. 😜🤣


NOTES: All references to Hamlet (and other Shakespeare plays) are to the Folger Shakespeare Library online versions: https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/hamlet/entire-play/

[1] There are no explicit references in Hamlet to Sophocles' Oedipus cycle, but Freud considered similarities between the prince and Oedipus as early as 1897; Ernst Jones wrote essays about it as early as 1910, and expanded his ideas in a book published in 1949.

[2] If there is an "Oedipus complex," we should also have a "Laius Complex" to better understand the cruelty of fathers, unable to allow their sons to outlive and succeed them.

[3] “I Want a Girl (Just Like the Girl That Married Dear Old Dad)” music by Harry Von Tilzer, lyrics by William Dillon (1911).  This became a popular barbershop quartet standard.

[4] Luke 15:11-32

[5] Perhaps not unlike Jonah, fleeing toward Tarshish to avoid God’s call to prophecy to Nineveh.


IMAGE:
In December of 2023, I had the pleasure of giving a presentation for post graduates at N.S.S. College, Kerala, India, and I mentioned how the Freudian/Oedipal lens can overshadow an approach that considers Biblical allusions such as the Prodigal Son (to which both Laertes and Polonius allude in an apparent effort to shame and control Ophelia). The image is a screen shot from the YouTube video:
https://youtu.be/O7Y6rxeJO44?si=EBtrNLToxTASuIOv&t=2000

Transcript:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/12/transcript-presentation-for-post.html

With continued gratitude to Haritha Unnithan and her colleagues for the opportunity.

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Disclaimer: If and when I quote or paraphrase bible passages or mention religion in many of my blog posts, I do not intend to promote any religion over another, nor am I attempting to promote religious belief in general; only to explore how the Bible and religion influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
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My current project is a book tentatively titled Hamlet’s Bible, about biblical allusions and plot echoes in Hamlet.

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