ABSTRACT
Ernest Jones argued that Hamlet's difficulties center in reality 'about a sexual problem', the manifestations of which 'are transferred on to more tolerable and permissible topics, such as anxiety about immortality and the salvation of the soul, philosophical considerations about the value of life, the future of the world, and so on'. Hamlet's problems begin before he encounters the ghost, learns of his father's murder, and accepts his mission of revenge. The most devastating blow to Hamlet is, of course, his mother's marriage to Claudius. Hamlet and the ghost of his father revile Claudius because he is the opposite psychological type. The disgust with life and longings for extinction that Hamlet expresses in his first soliloquy are the reactions of a man whose most cherished beliefs have been shattered and whose strategy for dealing with the world has proven to be ineffective.
