Heroic Dreams and Mad Wish-fulfillment in Don Quixote and Hamlet

『돈키호테』와 『햄릿』에 나타난 영웅적 꿈과 광기의 욕망충족

This study is to analyze dreams and madness in Don Quixote and Hamlet which makes these two heroes quite identical rather than antithetical. Don Quixote is usually considered to be an idealistic, enthusiastic, and unselfish doer, whereas Hamlet is a skeptical, melancholic, and self-conscious thinker. However, Don Quixote and Hamlet both reveal a heroic desire to embody an ideal world into a reality through their dreams and madness. Based on Freud's interpretation of the similarities between dream and neurosis, this article focuses on the aspects of Don Quixote's waking dream and Hamlet's affected madness to find out their characteristics as new types of heroes. Don Quixote, the waking dreamer, acts like a maniac and tries to remain in a state of madness to sustain the dream world where he wanders to save the weak, the poor, and the deprived. He accepts psychic breakdown as well as physical trauma if only he can do the role of a knight errant. Sleepless Hamlet witnesses the dream world and experiences it tangibly while he hears an order from the murdered King's ghost. Yet, instead of becoming a neurotic, Hamlet waits for the chance to perform his task to regain the harmony of his family and kingdom. Even on the border of madness, Hamlet does not forsake his own life and duty but dreams in reality and acts without losing his reason. Although there are some apparent outstanding differences between Don Quixote and Hamlet, they have fundamental similarities with each other; Both of them exemplify a new type of hero who desperately tries to fulfill a mad dream to face the suffocating, suspicious, and strange world.