Is what was going on with what Claudius had for his brother something like the Oedipus Complex? It seems that he wanted to replace him completely and take over as the "new" old Hamlet...
Oedipus was a character in Greek mythology who was the son of the king and queen of a city. When his parents took him to an oracle, he said that Oedipus would kill his father and murder his mother. The king and queen left him on a hill to die, where he was found and adopted by another family. He grew up with that family in another town and eventually went to the same oracle to find his destiny (he was told that he would kill his father and marry his mother, so he left town. On his trip he ran into his real father on a narrow road, and killed his father. After he killed him, he continued on to a Sphinx that terrorized his father's city. The Sphinx asked Oedipus a riddle (what walks on 4 legs in the morning, 2 in the day and 3 in the evening?) and he answered it (man) and the people of the city were so happy they made Oedipus the king (since the old king was dead) and had him marry the queen (his mom). He did and eventually tried to solve the mystery of the old king's death. He did and realized he married his mom, and when he told her she hanged herself. Oedipus took the pin out of his mother's robe (which made her naked) and stabbed his eyes out with it (the last thing he saw was his dead naked mother). This basically means that young boys idolize their fathers (like young Hamlet did) and want to marry someone just like their mother, so they could be more like their father. Paul Derickson
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Oedipus was a character in Greek mythology who was the son of the king and queen of a city. When his parents took him to an oracle, he said that Oedipus would kill his father and murder his mother. The king and queen left him on a hill to die, where he was found and adopted by another family. He grew up with that family in another town and eventually went to the same oracle to find his destiny (he was told that he would kill his father and marry his mother, so he left town. On his trip he ran into his real father on a narrow road, and killed his father. After he killed him, he continued on to a Sphinx that terrorized his father's city. The Sphinx asked Oedipus a riddle (what walks on 4 legs in the morning, 2 in the day and 3 in the evening?) and he answered it (man) and the people of the city were so happy they made Oedipus the king (since the old king was dead) and had him marry the queen (his mom). He did and eventually tried to solve the mystery of the old king's death. He did and realized he married his mom, and when he told her she hanged herself. Oedipus took the pin out of his mother's robe (which made her naked) and stabbed his eyes out with it (the last thing he saw was his dead naked mother).
This basically means that young boys idolize their fathers (like young Hamlet did) and want to marry someone just like their mother, so they could be more like their father.
Paul Derickson
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