In Hamlet written by Shakespeare and Oedipus Rex written by Sophocles there are similarities that both the writers incorporated in their plays that distinguish their success in the time period in which they were written. In having their similarities there were also differences that arose in the two as the following will determine in the comparing of Hamlet and Oedipus Rex. Hamlet and Oedipus Rex had similar minds, but differed in how to go about their dilemmas that presented themselves to the fledgling rulers eventually lead them to their self-destruction.
Hamlet, the main character in Shakespeare’s play came to rule by being born into it. Presenting him with the dilemma of proving himself as a level headed ruler. As the play developed it came to tell of a young prince which his father was originally expected to have died during battle, but as later in Hamlet the play states a much more sinister plot. In which his father was not killed in battle but murdered as he slept by no other than his brother, Claudius the young prince’s uncle.
However in Oedipus Rex, Oedipus only comes to power when his father, Laius is killed by him at a crossroad when his father refused to step aside. With his father dead and Thebes without a ruler the people gave Oedipus the throne and his mother, Jocasta hand in marriage as was custom during the time after solving the sphinx’s riddle and liberating the kingdom and earning the people’s respect. Knowing not that Jocasta and the man who was killed by him at the crossroad was his father and mother. Providing irony later as the play develops, and Oedipus comes to fruition that it was him who slew his father at the crossroad.
Similarly both Hamlet and Oedipus Rex are examples of fate. During Hamlet the ...
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...the end of the play due to poison tipped blade and drinking of the poisoned chalice that killed his father and uncle, tragically ending the young rulers life. Like Hamlet Oedipus exacted his own punishment for the murder of his father and by gouging his eyes out to show his guilt for not seeing the truth before than, but unlike Hamlet Oedipus lived two die of old age.
Comparing and contrasting Hamlet and Oedipus Rex you can find that they both fell into self-destruction because of their respecting flaws, effectively ending their rule. In these two tragedies the character’s could not overcome their dilemmas and flaws. Although both had beneficial characteristics they lacked important characteristics to make an effective ruler. In comparing and contrasting the two and combining all of the beneficial characteristics they would more than likely be an effective ruler.
The selfishness that Oedipus possesses causes him to have abundance of ignorance. This combination is what leads to his father’s death. After fleeing Corinth and his foster family, Oedipus gets into a skirmish with an older man. The reason for the fight was because, “The groom leading the horses forced me off the road at his lord’s command” (1336). Oedipus is filled with a rage after being insulted by the lord and feels the need to act. The two men fight, but Oedipus ends up being too much for the older man, and he kills him. What Oedipus is unaware of is that the man was actually his birth father and by killing him, Oedipus has started on the path of his own destruction. Not only does Oedipus kill his father, but also everyone else, “I killed them all” (1336). The other men had no part in the scuffle, but in his rage, he did not care who he was killing.
2. Similarities are an important part of being a foil. One similarity that Hamlet and Ophelia share are that they both are children of controlling parents. [SV - 1] Hamlet's father, who is murdered[,] comes back as a ghost to tell him who his murderer is. This news is his father's way of controlling him from the grave. Hamlet's mother and stepfather are also controlling him by presuading [persuading] Hamlet not to go to Wittenburg. Men in those days went away to get an education. There was no need for Hamlet to do so because he was a prince. [As a Prince, he might have been even more likely to go abroad for his education.] Ophelia is controlled by her father also. She tells him how Hamlet has tried many times to express his affections for her. Ophelia's father does not believe Hamlet is sincere and orders her to stay away from him. Ophelia obeys her father[']s wishes. Women were expected to do as they were told and believed what they were told to be true.
The play "Oedipus Rex" is a very full and lively one to say the least. Everything a reader could ask for is included in this play. There is excitement, suspense, happiness, sorrow, and much more. Truth is the main theme of the play. Oedipus cannot accept the truth as it comes to him or even where it comes from. He is blinded in his own life, trying to ignore the truth of his life. Oedipus will find out that truth is rock solid. The story is mainly about a young man named Oedipus who is trying to find out more knowledge than he can handle. The story starts off by telling us that Oedipus has seen his moira, his fate, and finds out that in the future he will end up killing his father and marrying his mother. Thinking that his mother and father were Polybos and Merope, the only parents he knew, he ran away from home and went far away so he could change his fate and not end up harming his family. Oedipus will later find out that he cannot change fate because he has no control over it, only the God's can control what happens. Oedipus is a very healthy person with a strong willed mind who will never give up until he gets what he wants. Unfortunately, in this story these will not be good trait to have.
Prior to the birth of Oedipus, a prophecy was spoken over Laius and his wife Jocasta. They were told that their son would one day be his father’s killer and would then marry his mother. In fear, King Laius and Queen Jocasta sent the baby Oedipus off with a slave to be killed. He was never killed, but rather was given to a childless king and queen which lovingly raised him. Oedipus was never factually told about his lineage. Later in his life, Oedipus was confronted by several unknown men while traveling. Upon confrontation, Oedipus killed all but one of the men in self defense. Unknowingly, Oedipus had begun to fulfill the prophecy for one of the men had been his birth father, Laius.
Oedipus from the drama, “Oedipus the King” and Hamlet from, “Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” are two characters that are different, yet they both share the same title of being a tragic hero. Oedipus and Hamlet have many characteristics of a tragic hero that separates them in varieties. However, some of those characteristics show that both characters have and use similar thought processes and methods, which classify them as tragic heroes of their dramas. The five characteristics of a tragic hero are: nobility, tragic flaw, peripeteia, anagnorisis, and lastly irony. Both Oedipus and Hamlet hold or have a nobility position in their drama’s plot. Oedipus is the son of the king, and fate has foretold that he will kill his father and take over the kingdom. Hence, Oedipus was fated into his nobility, so he is required always remain in a status above all others. Hamlet is also the son of the former king that is now dead. Hamlet was born into this nobility, and this makes him the prince. Both characters are royalty, yet their morals and values are what make their nobilities the same. Their actions create heavy and dramatic outcomes, which lead to many more complications. Both men try to resolve their problems different, so their fortunes become reversed. Oedipus and Hamlet are very different, yet almost have the same fates. Out of all the five characterizes, three of them describe and separate both men best as tragic heroes. The tragic flaws, which is defined as hamartia, both men have are the main reason they are heroes of tragedy, their recognitions of their situations, which is an anagnorisis, are at different points in their stories, and lastly both men meet an ending that is meant to be an irony of their fate.
Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most famous work of tragedy. Throughout the play the title character, Hamlet, tends to seek revenge for his father’s death. Shakespeare achieved his work in Hamlet through his brilliant depiction of the hero’s struggle with two opposing forces that hunt Hamlet throughout the play: moral integrity and the need to avenge his father’s murder. When Hamlet sets his mind to revenge his fathers’ death, he is faced with many challenges that delay him from committing murder to his uncle Claudius, who killed Hamlets’ father, the former king. During this delay, he harms others with his actions by acting irrationally, threatening Gertrude, his mother, and by killing Polonius which led into the madness and death of Ophelia. Hamlet ends up deceiving everyone around him, and also himself, by putting on a mask of insanity. In spite of the fact that Hamlet attempts to act morally in order to kill his uncle, he delays his revenge of his fathers’ death, harming others by his irritating actions. Despite Hamlets’ decisive character, he comes to a point where he realizes his tragic limits.
When Oedipus was born he was taken to an Oracle, this was custom for the rich. The Oracle was to tell his fate. The Oracle said that when Oedipus grows up he will marry his mother and he would also kill his father, "... Why, Loxias declared that I should one day marry my own mother, And with my own hands shed my father's bool. Wherefore Corinth I have kept away far, for long years; and prosperd; none the less it is most sweet to see one's parents' face..."(p36 ln1-6). When his parents herd this they gave Oedipus to a man and he was to get rid of the baby by leaving it in the forest, but an servant of Polybus, the king of Corinth, finds the baby and brings him to the king. The king falls in love with the baby and takes him in as one of his own.
Oedipus’ mother and wife, Jocasta, went through her share of trials. When she was wife to Oedipus’ father, King Laius, Jocasta conceived a baby boy whom she was forced to give up to death. After receiving a prophecy that his son would kill him and take his throne, King Laius convinces Jocasta that their son is a great threat. He then orders that the baby boy be...
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, a Shakespearean tragedy, tells the story of Prince Hamlet, who gained the knowledge of a terrible incident that his kingdom had suffered. Claudius, the king of Denmark and Hamlet's uncle, had killed his own brother, the king, who was also the father of Hamlet, and married his brother's widow. Hamlet suffered these traumas to a severe degree, and his only relief was to defeat his human weaknesses and correct the wrongs created by his uncle.
“Oedipus Rex” is a famous play of a tragic hero full of hubris and stubbornness. The playwright took every chance he could to use irony and conflict to his advantage, and although the audience knows what will happen early on, one can still sense the shock of the ending. Due to his own anger, Oedipus goes from being a powerful king to a blind beggar. Of the seven surviving plays, it is no surprise why this one is one of the most famous.s Rex Conflicts And
Born to King Laius and Queen Jocasta in the city of Thebes, Oedipus is surrounded with controversy after a prophecy shows that Oedipus will be destined to murder his father and marry his mother. Fearing the potential consequences of the prophecy, Oedipus’ parents made the decision to abandon their baby at the top of a mountain to die using one of their servants. The servant’s consciousness, however, causes him to instead deliver the baby to a shepherd, who in turn sends him to King Polybius and Queen Merope of the kingdom Corinth. After raising the child as their own, Oedipus becomes suspicious that these weren’t his biological parents and leaves Corinth upon hearing the prophecy by the oracle Delphi. As he unknowingly travels to his birth city, Thebes, Oedipus murdered a man along with his servants after a dispute between them. Before entering Thebes, Oedipus is confronted by the guardian of the city’s Gates, the Sphinx who presents him with a riddle. If he solves the riddle, he will be able to pass. If he doesn’t, he’ll die. Oedipus’s superior intelligence and cleverness allows him to easily solve the riddle, however unbeknownst to him will be a foreshadowing of his tragic downfall. The citizens of Thebes praise Oedipus and Queen Jocasta offers to marry him since her husband was mysteriously murdered. Upon marry Jocasta and becoming the King of Thebes, a powerful plague decimates the citizens of
Throughout the play, there are many examples that support the argument that Oedipus is a tragic hero. By definition, a tragic hero is “a great or virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy who is destined for downfall, suffering, or defeat”. Oedipus is a concerned and loving king whose people trust him explicitly. However, throughout the play, he makes choices that put him in bad situations. The play tells the story of Oedipus' journey to try and uncover the mystery of Laius' murder, as told by the oracle. Throughout his journey, he commits horrible crimes, and destroys both himself and his life. Oedipus also drags innocent people down with him. Oedipus is a tragic hero because of his fatal flaws, he was born of noble birth, he showed excessive pride and he became more self aware.
Elements of Tragedy in Oedipus Rex It is not the tragic subject matter of the text that is of primary interest but rather the manner in which the plot is developed. The story line progresses as if the reader is "unpeeling an onion. " The tale of King Oedipus is well known. An enraged Oedipus unknowingly slays his father (Laiusq, King of Thebes) and supplants him as monarch and as husband to his own mother (Queen Jocasta).
To destroy Oedipus, the gods granted the power of prophecy to oracles that delivered these prophecies to Laius and Jocasta. As a result, they kill their child to get rid of him and his terrible prophecies. Unfortunately, these prophecies came true because Oedipus didn’t know his real parents. If he had known his real parents, he wouldn’t have killed his father and married his mother.
The play Oedipus the King written by the playwright Sophocles is the unfortunate development of the King of Thebes. Oedipus, an imperfect leader, has excessive pride and arrogance. This tragic flaw has poisoned his ego and built him into the tyrant he is at the end of the play. It is strongly believed that hubris was the essential cause of Oedipus’ downfall. Oedipus was too infatuated with keeping his reputation as a leader instead of realizing the events that were occurring around him.