Hamlet and Oedipus: A Comparison

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Tragedy. It is a word which can conjure many images for most people. From the innocence of a child who has lost her favorite blanket, to the heartbreak of losing a parent, to the desperation of a suicidal teen, every person on earth can relate to tragedy. The degree to which an audience can relate or even just sympathize with the tragic hero determines the quality of the tragedy. That said, in order to produce a tragedy, it is necessary to have a tragic hero. In his work, The Poetics, Aristotle sets forward characteristics that all tragic heroes should share. Included are hamartia, peripeteia, anagnorisis, and an over the top consequence. Hamartia, or the hero's tragic flaw, is “his error or transgression or (as some translators would have it) his flaw or weakness of character” (“Aristotle's” 858). Peripeteia, is the reversal of his fortune, or in other words, the tragic thing that happens to him. Anagnorisis is when the hero discovers that his own actions caused the reversal. Finally, Aristotle would say that the consequence for the hero's actions that resulted in a reversal of fate should be overly harsh. This paper seeks to compare and contrast Hamlet from William Shakespeare's play of the same name and Oedipus from Sophocles' Oedipus Rex at the points where they meet or do not meet these characteristics. Hamlet and Oedipus share similar a hamartia, and anagnorisis, and similarly do not suffer penalties that exceed their crimes. Meanwhile, they contrast in respect to their peripeteia.
Both Hamlet and Oedipus are morbidly and fatally impulsive. Each of them begin their tragic spiral with an unpremeditated murder. Hamlet's general impulsiveness plays a larger role in his story than does Oedipus'. They both hurrie...

... middle of paper ...

...about the twist in fate, while it was not Hamlet whose actions brought about the inciting incident in his story. Overall, Hamlet and Oedipus Rex are similar stories when it comes to setting, characters, and the situations they are in.

Works Cited

“Aristotle's Concept of Tragedy.” The Literature Collection. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Pearson Education, Inc. 2013. 858. Web.
New American Standard Bible Updated Edition. La Habra: The Lockman Foundation, 1995. Print.
Shakespeare, William. “Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.” The Literature Collection. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Pearson Education, Inc. 2013. 915-939. Web.
Sophocles, “Oedipus the King.” The Literature Collection. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Pearson Education, Inc. 2013. 860-873. Web.
Struck, Peter T. “Oedipus as the Ideal Tragic Hero.” Greek and Roman Mythology. n.p. 2009. 11 May 2014.

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