Contents

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Preface vii
3. Contents xi
4. ONE. Psychoanalysis as a Critical Method for Hamlet 1
5. TWO. Freud's Misleading Hunch about Hamlet 19
6. THREE. The Problem of Delay 43
7. FOUR. The Absent Father and His Son 51
8. FIVE. The Vain Search for a Strong Father 99
9. SIX. Mother Mistress Man 152
10. SEVEN. To Be or Not To Be Born 178
11. EIGHT. Managing the Unconscious 207
12. NINE. Conclusion 260
13. APPENDIX A. King Hamlet and the Sonneteer's Friend Remembered 275
14. APPENDIX B. Shakespeare's Smiling Villains as Transformed Men 280
15. APPENDIX C. Polonius and John Donne's Busy Old Fool 287
16. Notes 291
17. General Index 301
18. Index of Passages from Hamlet Quoted or Discussed 307