Eissler describes the psychoanalytic approach to literature as an equation of literary characters with living human beings in an attempt to determine the unconscious motivations of the characters. However, he recognizes that characters in a literary work represent part objects and, as such, cannot be considered representations of real persons. He strives to demonstrate that the hidden theme which has made Hamlet so dominant a work is that of the Prince's transformation from a stunted personality, dependent on external guidance, to an autonomous