A psychoanalytic approach to the lonely men of Shakespeare: Hamlet, Lear and Prospero

The object of this thesis is to examine William Shakespeare?s depiction of his lonely male protagonists in his significant plays, Hamlet, King Lear and The Tempest within the framework of psychoanalytic criticism and also drawing attention to the colonial theme running in these three plays. The reason why Shakespeare?s works are still so powerful and criticized even today is not only because of his style but also because of the themes he discussed such as jealousy, good versus evil, happiness and loneliness, which are still contemporary for the 21st century readers. In this respect, Shakespeare?s plays both treated and appealed to all classes and to different levels of intelligence and education of Elizabethan society. In other words, there is no class distinction in Shakespeare?s depiction of human psyche.Shakespeare depicts Hamlet, young prince of Denmark, as a melancholic and introverted character as he has learnt about his father?s unnatural death and his mother?s hasty marriage with his uncle, while he portrays an abandoned king figure who has turned mad in his King Lear. Differing from the other two plays as a comedy, the protagonist of The Tempest, Prospero is also depicted as an isolated character, both physically and psychologically. In this sense, all these protagonists resemble each other in terms of their psychological states and symbolize isolation as they can not adapt themselves to the realities of their lives and their social circles. Consequently, this project will discuss how these characters lack evaluating life objectively and become isolated.