Analysis of the Closet Scene in Hamlet the Movie

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Recommended: Oedipus complex in hamlet

Hamlet is often seen as one of the most well known examples of an Oedipus Complex presented in literature. The reasons for this is probably because of the plot that resolves around the revenge that Hamlet has against his step-father Claudius and because of the relationship that Hamlet has with his mother that is loaded with sexual energy. Hamlet's love for his mother is especially exemplified by the Mel Gibson's interpretation of the infamous closet scene.

Traditionally a Queen's closet was not worth emphasizing a bedroom, but it is likely that most of the readers would presume that the closet scene takes place in Gertrude?s bedroom because of the obsession that Hamlet has about Gertrude?s bed. When Hamlet responds to his mother?s summons and comes to her closet, he invades a very private place where customarily a woman would only entertain her husband or a lover. For an adult son to do this, intimations of erotic possibilities are almost inevitable because the son crosses the line into the enclosure of his mother?s privacy to encounter her as a sexualized subject.

The room that Olivier created for Gertrude contained a lot of scenery to convey a subliminal message. The tall doors look phallic-shaped and the bed is the center of attention most of the time. The bed is also much more lit than the rest of the room that emphasizes the importance of it. The way Gertrude kisses Hamlet in the Olivier, can be signifiers of the sexuality that is going in between her and Hamlet. The kisses are not what the everyday person interprets as platonic and it is almost as if Hamlet and Gertrude are drawn closer and closer because of the passion between them, in order that their faces are only inches apart. The last kiss between Gertrude and ...

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...e other movies. She takes every opportunity to kiss Hamlet fully on the mouth, sometimes even lingering on the lips. It is almost as if Hamlet?s Oedipal cravings is a given in this movie. At one time Hamlet is even thrusting his lions against Gertrude that suggest a signifier of sexual intercourse. When the ghost appears it is as if it is just in time to stop Hamlet and Gertrude from having full-fledged intercourse. Gertrude does not seem to mind this at all in the way she caresses Hamlet unquestionably more representative of the display of affection one associates with a lover than a mother.

The conclusion is that the Oedipus Complex definitely plays an integral role in the most of the movies made about Hamlet. Two of the three films I discussed are clearly paradigmatic, as each has in some way further contributed to the idea of Hamlet?s aberrant sexual feelings.

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