Jacques Lacan

According to Lacan our desires are an attempt to satisfied the needs of our childlike state. All human desire is based on the satisfaction had as an infant, with our mother. That being said, any desire we have will not be able to fulfill our urges because as young children, teens, and adults we are no longer permitted to have such a physical closeness with our mothers. True satisfaction is an impossibility.
This is an interesting concept to think about considering our American culture. Specifically advertising and all the products ranging from cars, make-up and so on that are made to look like they will provide some sort of satisfaction. Food for thought.

Oedipus, Hamlet. Hamlet, Oedipus. Wait! Have you two already met?

At our last session we discussed psychoanalysis and Freud. That being said we of course also discussed the Oedipus complex. Simply put this is where a son desires his mother and sees his father a threat.
The example we were given in class was Shakespeare's play "Hamlet." Many, including myself are familiar with the Freudian analysis of "Hamlet." Considering this analysis, we see that Hamlet desires his father's possessions after his death, including the throne and his mother. Which may have been conceivable with his father now dead, but his uncle has since taken the throne and his mother as his wife. Hamlet then sees his uncle as the treat and attempt to take the throne and his mother.
As previously mentioned, I have heard this analysis before. What was new for me in the last class meeting was the clip from Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet starring Mel Gibson. This film adaption of Hamlet effectively depicts the title character as suffering from Freud's Oedipus complex.