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How did psychological and psychoanalytic critics interpret Shakespeare’s characters?

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Antique book open to the frontispiece of The Iliad of Homer, showing the title and an engraved portrait of a bearded man, with old books in the background. — literature *The Iliad*, an epic of the Trojan War attributed to the ancient Greek poet Homer, is considered a foundational work of Western literature.

Psychological and psychoanalytic critics interpret William Shakespeare’s characters by examining their motivations and behaviors through the lens of psychoanalytic theory, often focusing on unconscious conflicts and developmental patterns.12

Key approaches include:

Oedipal Analysis: A prominent method involves applying Freudian concepts to explain character behavior. For example, Ernest Jones famously analyzed Hamlet in his work Hamlet and Oedipus, attributing the protagonist's irresolution to an Oedipus complex and repressed guilt.2
Internal Conflicts: Critics explore characters in terms of narcissism, psychotic behavior, and the fundamental tension between the need for autonomy and the desire for dependence within relationships.1
Psychic Life: This critical school may interpret a play to reconstruct the psychological conflicts of the author, or conversely, use the text to map the character's unconscious mind.2

By focusing on these internal dynamics, psychoanalytic critics seek to uncover layers of meaning that suggest Shakespeare’s characters possess a depth and complexity that mirror the intricacies of the human psyche.12