title: The inability to mourn and the inability to love in Shakespeare's Hamlet.
abstract: The author discusses the special role played by Shakespeare's masterpiece Hamlet in the history of psychoanalysis. Freud and many of his followers have treated Hamlet as if he were a real person inhibited by the Oedipus complex. In this presentation, Hamlet is understood as the embodiment of a brilliant artistic endeavor aimed at both revealing and concealing the power of this complex. The author proposes that, if Hamlet is autobiographical, it expresses Shakespeare's inability to mourn and love until a childhood homosexual memory has emerged. Hidden in Hamlet is a cure through the recall of a childhood memory.
authors.affiliation: New York University Program in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, USA. ridibergmann@verizon.net
authors.forename: Martin S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Bergmann
mesh_terms: D001601:Bereavement; D003405:Creativity; D004324:Drama; D049669:History, 16th Century; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008093:Literature, Modern; D008149:Love; D008297:Male; D009813:Oedipus Complex; D011573:Psychoanalytic Interpretation; D014473:Unconscious, Psychology; D014956:Writing