Compare And Contrast Antigone And Hamlet

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Antigone and Hamlet are two distinctive tragedies, written by two different authors, in two separate centuries, yet both stories have considerable aspects in common. Antigone is about a girl who stands up to her uncle, the new King Kreon, after he refuses to bury one of her dead brothers, Polynieces, because she believes not burying him in wrong, especially on a spiritual level. Antigone is a tragic heroine because her tragic flaw, tenacious loyalty, leads to the down fall of not only herself, but more importantly her beloved fiancé, Haemon, and also his mother. Hamlet is about a prince whose father, King Hamlet, just died and whose mom, Queen Gertrude, just married his uncle, the new King Claudius. Hamlet is not ok with the situation. Hamlet …show more content…

For one thing they both are grieving over a loved one and it is this grief that propels them onto their path of challenging their uncles in their respective plays. Antigone just lost both her brothers, but she did not get closure with Polynieces and so she is still grieving over him, and that is part of the reason she defies her uncle, King Kreon, by burying him. Hamlet just lost his father and is still grieving when his mom moves on and marries King Claudius, so when Hamlet saw the ghost his still grieving heart pushed himself to challenge his uncle as well. Another way they are similar is that they have a one tract mind and they do not worry about the consequences, especially for their loved ones, of their actions. Hamlet was rude to everyone he cared about, especially Ophelia who killed herself partly because he was nasty to her, just because he was upset at the whole situation. Antigone was mean to her sister because her sister did not feel as strong about the situation as she did, and she also gave no thought as to how her defying her uncle would affect his son, her fiancé, which partly led to his suicide. A third way they are similar is that they both let their spiritual beliefs weigh heavily on their actions. Part of Hamlet’s indecisiveness is due to the fact that he does not know if killing Claudius is justified in God’s eyes. Part of the reason Antigone wants Polynieces buried is due to the fact that

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