This essay takes a look at the methodology provided by Sigmund Freud in “Mourning and Melancholia” and attempts to utilize it to account for the sadistic and hypocritical way Hamlet treats Ophelia within Hamlet itself. First, I note Hamlet’s extended grief at the loss of his father, and use his symptoms to diagnose him with melancholia, a Freudian term for a type of mourning that turns self-deprecating and inward-facing, resulting in an ego determined to protect the self from further harm, often by attacking others. From there, the essay acknowledges and explores the problem of having evidence that Hamlet loves and does not love Ophelia, and resolves it by concluding that because Hamlet is suffering from a Freudian melancholia, he would sadistically lash out at Ophelia whether he loved her or not, and his ambiguity is merely a repercussion of his diagnosis and not something that necessitates an answer. This essay delves into not only methodology, but independent research of the topic’s critical conversation as well as the philosophizing of poet John Keats–all in the hopes of understanding Hamlet’s behavior as an unavoidable result of melancholia.
The Sadistic Don’t Discriminate: Hamlet’s Feelings toward Ophelia through a Freudian Lens
