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Last class session, I was very intrigued by Lacan's explanation of a demand. According to Lacan, children make demands for things because they are trying to find a substitute for what they truly want: their mother. Getting to keep their mother for themselves, however, is an impossibility. It makes me wonder if that's the reason why human beings are never satisfied with anything. More is always wanted, and once they attain it, it is soon replaced by something else. Lacan's idea, then, makes me wonder if it was possible for human beings to get what they truly desired, then would we be in this economic depression? I know it sounds silly, but it is simply a thought that entered my head.
The class session on Freud left me with a very different view of Hamlet. Every other time I had encountered the play, I only looked at it the way my teachers discussed it. I was surprised to see how much of Freud’s Oedipus Complex is present in Shakespeare’s creation. The clip from the movie of the play made it extremely obvious. Everything Mel Gibson as Hamlet does to his mother is extremely sexual. Not only that but Hamlet is emulating his father’s role. The fact that his mother is married to his uncle affects Hamlet so much more than normal. Because he is identifying with the role of his father, he feels cheated and wronged. To me, this is extremely unhealthy. If Freud is correct, something must have gone wrong during Hamlet’s infancy to cause this reaction.
