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Eric
05-24-2005, 06:07 PM
I am a psychotherapist. Hamlet is one of Shakespeare's most frequently analyzed plays from a psychological point of view. Several famous psychologists have written books analyzing Hamlet's mind.<br><br>What I find intriguing, both in the play and in reading the comments above, is how many different ways there are to view the characters and their actions. This is true of all literature and literary commentary. It is also true of how we humans look at each other, whether in literature or in real life. Our comments and perceptions on the behavior of others often reveal much more about us than they do about the those whose behavior we observe.<br><br>The apparently Iraqi person in the first comment projected his own surroundings onto the play, as well as his own political perspective. <br><br>The Indian engineering student focused on Hamlet's mother, Gertrude, and had trouble with her being motherly and womanly ("lustful") at the same time. I wonder why this was a problem for him. I viewed her as a very human, whole woman who stuggles like the rest of us to balance her responsibilities as queen and mother with her own personal needs and desires. She may be judged by some to have made some poor decisions.<br><br>In my counter-analysis of Gertrude above, one can see my own biases as a therapist of trying to view others as masses of contradictions (as I see myself) to whom I can be empathetic and helpful even if I don't agree with their behavior or decisions.<br><br>What an interesting thing it is - and what a gift! - to be able to look at a play like Hamlet and find one's self!