Hamlet's Absent Father

Avi Erlich finds that Hamlet deals not with repressed patricidal impulses but with a complex search, partially unconscious, for a strong father. Much more than he wants to have killed his father, Hamlet wants his father back and seeks a strong man with whom to identify. The playwright presents one ambivalent father figure after another, each an imitation or parody of the seemingly titanic king. Polonius, Osrick, Yorick, Old Fortinbras, Priam, Achilles, Horatio—these are a few versions ofthe father who bequeathed to his son his own ambivalence. Originally published in 1978. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.