Hamlet's Transcendent paths of Francis, Bernard, & Yorick, vs. Freud's Oedipal path

Shakespeare's Hamlet offers glimpses of two ways of transcending dysfunctional parentage:

a) The limited path of Freud's Oedipal complex, or
b) Yorick and the paths of Francis of Assisi and Bernard of Clairvaux.

In the first, the son kills the father-figure to reclaim a lost closeness to the mother. If the father is a tyrant and the son resorts to violence to replace him, this is a very limited, temporary transcendence, with the son too much like the father he replaces [1].

Francisco and Bernardo are the names of sentinels, the first two characters on stage in the play. Together, they are the names of the Pazzi assassins [2], but individually they are names of saints:

- Francis of Assisi and Bernard of Clairvaux didn't kill their fathers, but Francis famously renounced his abusive father before the bishop, stripping off his clothes and giving them back to his father, saying that he had a father in heaven.

- St. Bernard’s biological father and brothers eventually joined the monastery with him. Bernard was famous for a vision or dream in which he drinks milk from the breast of Mary, mother of Jesus.

So Francis and Bernard are both examples of transcendent parentage (or some might say, holy fools, or holy madmen.

TO ACHIEVE THIS FIGURATIVE TRANSCENDENT PARENTAGE, whether one is religious or not, one must find or make a gap between the self and the flawed parent who may be a poor role model and object of fear or resentment [3].

Hamlet in the graveyard is reminded of such a gap by the gravedigger and the skull of Yorick, man of "infinite jest" [4], beloved fool from Hamlet's childhood and emotional surrogate father-figure.

Instead of killing the father, one can renounce him as Francis did, or allow him to effectively become obsolete in favor of an improved father-figure or mentor.

Or as in the poetic formulation by William Wordsworth, one can become more self-actualized, with “The child” as figurative “father to the man” [5].

Hamlet still kills his uncle in the end, but perhaps he is not so Oedipal as some believe.


NOTES: All references to Shakespeare plays are to the Folger Shakespeare Library online versions: https://shakespeare.folger.edu

[1] An example of killing the father-figure to achieve limited transcendence may be indicated when Hamlet and Polonius both speak of Brutus, who killed Julius Caesar. A rumor had claimed that Brutus was a bastard fathered by a young Caesar who had slept with Brutus’ mother. When Julius Caesar was about to die, according to at least one classical source, he says, not “You too, Brutus,” as in the Shakespeare play, but “You too, [my] child?” Julius Caesar would have been in his teens at the time, so some historians dismiss the rumor.
- The suggestion by the ghost that Claudius had an affair with his mother bothers Hamlet. What if he is not the rightful heir, but the bastard son of Claudius? This may not be true, but it may be a source of anxiety for Hamlet, who in killing Claudius, may subconsciously believe he is killing his biological father, resembling Oedipus.

[2] The Pazzi Conspiracy (1478) involved banking families and a plot approved by high officials in the Vatican, attempted to kill two Medici brothers, Giuliano and Lorenzo, but they succeeded in killing only Giuliano. It took place on Easter in the cathedral. (In Hamlet, Laertes he would “cut [Hamlet’s] throat i’ the church” in 4.7). This incident was often used by Protestants to demonstrate the corruption of the Catholic church. It is also a story of revenge: The Medici brothers and their allies quickly found and killed those responsible. (Also, there is a fictional version of the Pazzi Conspiracy in the video game, “Assassins Creed II.”)

[3] When Ophelia says, “It is the false steward that stole his master's daughter” in 4.5, she is thought to be speaking of a sub-plot in a Ben Jonson play, but also thematically related to a few Shakespeare plays in which a son or daughter does not know of their royal parentage. Ophelia may have an inkling that her brother and father were false stewards, to tell her she was not worthy of a match with Hamlet. Ironically, at her graveside we learn that Gertrude had approved of such a match. Ophelia also sings “lauds” as she floats in the brook before drowning. Lauds were in praise of God (“our Father who art in heaven”), they also honored the Virgin Mary on certain feast days.

[4] When Hamlet in 5.1 describes Yorick as having been a man of “infinite jest,” he attributes to Yorick a divine feature: Only Gods can have infinite features (mercy, love, patience, or omniscience [all-knowing] and omnipotence [power]).

[5]"The Child is father of the Man" is a line from William Wordsworth’s poem, "My Heart Leaps Up" (1802), and is thematically linked to the Riddle of the Sphinx: 

My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

IMAGES:
TOP LEFT:  The Young Lord Hamlet (with a living Yorick), 1868. Philip Hermogenes Calderon (1833–1898). Private collection. Public domain via https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/The_Young_Lord_Hamlet.jpg

TOP RIGHT: Legend of St Francis: Renunciation of Wordly Goods (1297-99), Fresco, Upper Church, San Francesco, Assisi. By GIOTTO di Bondone (b. 1267, Vespignano, d. 1337, Firenze).
“When Francis' father accuses his son before the episcopal tribune of squandering his fortune, Francis returns to him even the clothes he is wearing, and repudiates him. Giotto illustrates this sensational public separation, which signifies the decisive step towards the saint's future life of poverty, by means of the two groups of people on opposite sides. The buildings further reinforce the gulf between the two worlds.” Public domain image via https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Giotto_-_Legend_of_St_Francis_-_-05-_-_Renunciation_of_Wordly_Goods.jpg. Text via https://www.wga.hu/html_m/g/giotto/assisi/upper/legend/franc05.html.

BOTTOM LEFT: Lactatio (milk miracle) of Bernard of Clairvaux: Bernard receiving milk from the breast of the Virgin Mary. The scene of the miracle that took place at Speyer Cathedral in 1146. Early 16th century, from MS Douce 264, f.38v, in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Scroll reads: ‘Monstra te esse matrem’ (‘Show thyself to be a mother’): start of prayer of St. Bernard. By a different illuminator to that of fol. 37r. Public domain via https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/BernhardClairvaux_Lactatio_SourceUnknown.jpg

BOTTOM RIGHT:  Oedipus and the Sphinx (1864), Gustave Moreau. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Public domain via https://collectionapi.metmuseum.org/api/collection/v1/iiif/437153/1728757/main-image. On the Riddle of the Sphinx, wikipedia notes: The riddle was: "What walks on four feet in the morning, two in the afternoon and three at night?". Oedipus answered: "Man: as an infant, he crawls on all fours; as an adult, he walks on two legs and; in old age, he uses a walking stick". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus_and_the_Sphinx#Subject_matter 

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