Bryan Garcia - Reflection

Bryan Garcia
Period 1
3-2-1 Reflection

Things I learned:

“To be or not to be” – Despite being the most famous soliloquy in all English, it doesn't make much sense, according to the professor. It has different meanings and interpretations. To me, it asks the simple question, “Why live?” At the end, it answers that death might be even worse.

King Hamlet’s ghost may not be real after all. It could be all in Prince Hamlet’s mind, caused by a loss of sense. Hamlet goes mad and imagines the ghost, explaining why Gertrude and the audience can’t see him. However, this theory does not explain why Horatio and the watchmen were able to see the ghost in the beginning of the play.

Freud explains that the individual is controlled or influenced by his superego. In the play, the ghost represents Hamlet’s external superego. Freud also interprets the characters in Hamlet as a representation of the renaissance in relation to their individualism and life style at the time.

Questions I have:

Why does Hamlet have an obsession with his mother? Is it because of the lack of respect she seems to have for his dead father or his attachment caused by his desire for a mother that never leaves?

One goal I have:

I will continue to read more on Freud and how his analytic criticism relates to Hamlet and any other piece of literature.