Hamlet and Ophelia

Ernest Jones analyzes Hamlet's character through Freud's use of infant development. A son must go through a stage that represses the mother away from being the center love object. However throughout the beginning of the play we see that the Queen shows her warmest affection towards her son Hamlet. According to Freud, depending on how repressed a child is away from the mother, he will look for a woman either more similar or contrasting to the image of the mother. Hamlet's love for Ophelia is never explained in the play so we have no evidence if Hamlet truly loved her. Ophelia's character is different from the Queen. Gertrude is a woman who cares about her social status than morals, depends on a man and is born into an aristocratic family. Ophelia relies more on her morals, more of an independent thinker and is born into the working class. She is the extreme opposite of the Queen despite Hamlet's close bond with his mother prior to his Father's death.