ABSTRACT
From the psychoanalytic point of view one can be guilty only of one thing, Jacques Lacan (1992: 319) says, c’est d’avoir cédé sur son désir, ‘that is of having given ground relative to one’s desire’. What is this desire that is so important for psychoanalysis? What is the subject’s relationship to her/his desire from which she/he ought not to back down? I will answer this fundamental question through a case study, the case of Hamlet. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince Hamlet’s father, the late King Hamlet, has been
killed by his brother Claudius. Claudius is crowned as a new king. He marries Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. Hamlet confronts the ghost of his father, who reveals the crime committed by Claudius and demands that Hamlet seek revenge. Hamlet postpones the revenge time after time despite having had opportunities to kill Claudius. Hamlet kills Polonius, whose daughter Ophelia is in love with Hamlet. Hamlet has begun to ignore her after having met the ghost. Ophelia goes mad and commits suicide. In the end, Polonius’ son Laertes and Hamlet have a duel with foils and daggers.
To get rid of Hamlet, Claudius convinces Laertes to use a sharpened and poisoned foil rather than a blunt foil that is used in friendly duels. Moreover, Claudius poisons Hamlet’s wine. Gertrude takes a lethal drink from Hamlet’s goblet. Laertes wounds Hamlet with the poisoned foil. In a scuffle, this foil is switched from Laertes to Hamlet, who wounds Laertes with it. Gertrude collapses, declares that she has been poisoned and dies. Laertes confesses Claudius’ and his conspiracy. Hamlet strikes Claudius with the foil and forces him to drink from the poisoned goblet. Laertes asks Hamlet’s forgiveness and Hamlet asks Horatio to tell his story. With Gertrude, Claudius, Laertes, and Hamlet all dead, Norwegian prince Fortinbras enters.
