What is the difference between shame and guilt and how significant is it? For Freud, Oedipus and Hamlet suffered from guilt. Goldberg considers that they were dominated byb shame. In his view, shame and its consequences are at the core of human suffering. Whereas Freud thought Oedipus suffered from the guilty recognition that he was the slayer of his father and the seducer of his mother Goldberg believes that Oedipus' tragedy emanated from the shameful recognition that he was frail and vulnerable, and that he was resented and abandoned by his parents and unavle to control the events of his life. Along similar lines, Freud saw Hamlet as suffering from a guilty conscience for unresolved Oedipal desires, whereas Goldberg asserts that the source of Hamlet's misery was shame caused by his father's neglect and his mother's criticism.

In stressing the need to differentiate shame from guilt, the author