Hamlet’s inner life is a battleground of opposing forces, wavering between the principle of good and capacity for love, and evil, loathing and cruelty. Locked in a war within, he is chronically indecisive and incapable of action.

The seminar will seek insight into this divided soul.  Archetypal and alchemical themes are abundant: the father’s ghost, puer-senex, heroic consciousness, initiation, shame,splitting, sol and luna, and possession. The Renaissance philosophy of doubt, Dionysian man, and the Oedipus complex are relevant.

The seven soliloquies reveal an unfolding consciousness struggling to understand his complex inner world and expose unconscious patterns residing in the psychic background that shape his world and determine his relationships.

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IGAP member

Required Reading:

Shakespeare, W., Hamlet

RecommendedReading:

Jung,C. G., Collected Works, Vol 4, The Significance of the Father in the Destiny of the Individual, §§692-744

Jung, C. G., Collected Works, Vol. 14, The Personification of the Opposites, §§104-348

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