Oedipus And Hamlet Comparative Essay Example

Introduction

Hamlet and Oedipus both go on an interesting journey to explore the fact and to punish the others. Resilience is a trait that Oedipus and Hamlet both develop. Resilience is the ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change (Merriam-Webster Definition). Now the question needs to be answered, “Who is more Resilient” during this journey. Both of these characters have many obstacles that need to be faced and overcome. Both of these characters, Hamlet of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Oedipus of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex both search for different ways to show and use resilience to discover the truth. Oedipus and Hamlet have many similarities but have different personalities. They also handle their situations differently that shows the differences between them. The situations are shown differently when they see the reactions to the truth, ignoring the opportunity to their fate, and when they cause their demise. These show that neither of these characters was able to show resilience. 

Hamlet by William Shakespear Analysis

Firstly, in the play “Hamlet”, we notice the lack of resilience when he recognizes the ghost of his father. The ghost first appears when Hamlet is speaking to Marcellus and Horatio. They try to encourage Hamlet not to associate or listen to the ghost of his father, they also tell him that it is just his imagination. Hamlet pulls out his sword on Marcellus and Horatio and tells them it's all his fate. Hamlet puts his guard up when others tell him what to do or what they think.  He says, "My fate cries out and makes each petty artery in this body as hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve. Still am I called.----unhand me, gentleman. By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me. I say, away!---Go on. I'll follow thee. (Shakespeare 1.4.86-91) When Oedipus is feeling down or put into a tough situation, Marcellus and Horatio are always trying to help him get out of the bad situations. Hamlet gets his head up and gets defensive and pulls out his sword. When Hamlet gets defensive this shows that Hamlet has no resilience and pushes away the people who care the most about him, Hamlet is too focused on the ghost, and it hurts the people who actually cares about him. Once Hamlet follows the ghost he figures out the truth about his father’s death. Hamlet has now only thought about revenge “Haste me to know ’t, that I, with wings as swift, As meditation or the thoughts of love, May sweep to my revenge”. (Shakespeare 1.5.30) Hamlet was so caught up in his father’s death that all the decisions he made led up to his own death. 

Oedipus Rex by Sophocles Analysis

In the next play, Oedipus lacks resilience when his pride overcomes him and makes bad decisions that lead to his death. Oedipus finally finds out the real story about him falling for fate. He says “you will no longer see all those atrocious things I suffered, the dreadful things I did! No. You have seen those you never should have looked upon and those I wished to know you did not see. So now and for all future time be dark!" (Sophocles 1270-1520) Oedipus tried to fix his mistakes by poking his eyes out. He doesn't think anything through before proceeding with his actions and hurting himself. Oedipus also tries to find his real father, Oedipus has a good feeling he knew who killed his father. He then confronts Jocasta for answers. She is then silent, "O woe is thee, poor wretch! With that last word I leave thee, henceforth silent evermore" (Sophocles 1074-1075). He is very determined to find out the bad news that the prophet was correct. If Oedipus showed more resilience, he would have recognized the oracle had left for him. His pride got to him, which means he had no way to escape and that led to his death.  

Lastly, It is shown that Hamlet's lack of resilience is when he lets his feelings and emotions control the way he thinks and feels, these feelings and emotions eventually lead to his death. Hamlet had been up for a challenge that the king and queen had watched to dual against Laertes. Hamlet and Laertes get into a scrap, Claudius knows that Hamlet is going to put poison into the wine and Laertes gets angry and puts a tip on the sword and slashes Hamlet back. After the fact, Gertrude takes a sip of the wine that Hamlet poisoned and Gertrude was killed. Claudius first realizes that Gertrude took a sip of the wine and realizes she will die “No, no, the drink, the drink! O my dear Hamlet! The drink, the drink! I am poison'd”. ( Shakespeare 305-306). All three of them have just realized what went down and forgiven one another to try and fix things. Everyone had been killed because of Hamlet's horrible actions and the way he is unable to control himself. Hamlet had so many chances to kill Claudius but instead, his emotions got in the way and it came out horribly wrong after realizing everyone died. This led to Hamlet's death and because he had a hard time overcoming his mental hardships. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is shown that Hamlet and Oedipus both do not show resilience during their difficult times. Hamlet was unable to push his emotions away or past him which led to many unnecessary deaths, including Hamlet’s.  Hamlet had also made some horrible actions throughout that caused drama with Marcellus and Horatio. On the other hand, Oedipus could not accept the prophecy and only had pride, unfortunately not he did not accept the prophecy which led to his own death. Both of these characters had trouble moving forward and clearing their minds, this led to tragic events in the end for both of these characters.