Reading Hamlet with Lacan
Résumé
This paper looks at Jacques Lacan’s reading of Hamlet and the implications of his demonstration
on his overall clinical approach to neurosis and desire. There is no denying that writing a chapter
on Hamlet is an intimidating enterprise, unlikely to succeed in giving an exhaustive overview of the
play, especially if we are to believe Shakespearean scholars when they say it is the most commented
play in the English language (Cottegnies and Venet: 1,417). This is acknowledged by Lacan himself,
as can be seen in his recurrent references to other commentators in and out of the psychoanalytic
field (Lacan: 300)1, and his knowledge of the symbolic status the role of Hamlet gives to any actor
who is given to play it on stage, especially in the UK (Lacan: 305). However, what Lacan stresses
most throughout his lectures (called ‘classes’ by Bruce Fink) on the play is the work done by Freud
and Ella Sharpe.