Similarities And Differences Between Macbeth And Hamlet

One Author, Two Completely Different Characters Imagine an author named William Shakespeare writing two stories, Macbeth and Hamlet. The plots are quite similar, but the main characters, Macbeth and Hamlet, are immensely different when it came to their personalities. Their actions, relatability, and confidence are completely different from each other. With these traits, the main characters handled life completely different. Actions can speak louder than words in most cases. Macbeth was a very hasty person when it came to his actions. He killed many people without meaning just because they were guilty by association.This was seen at the death of Lady Macduff and her sons. They had nothing to do with what was going on, but Macbeth wanted

Macbeth was hard to relate with for many reasons. First, he did act hasty when killing people. Macbeth wanted the crown so bad that he would stop at nothing to get it. This led to the deaths of Banquo, Macduff’s family, and many others. Most people would not act so hasty in killing others just to get a powerful position, which made Macbeth hard to relate to. He also was a heartless when his wife died. Macbeth stated, “She should have died hereafter. There would have been a time for such a word” (Macbeth V. v. 17-18). By saying this, Macbeth proved that he believed that life was meaningless and that he did not really care that his wife died because she was going to die anyway. For the lack of compassion he showed to the lover of his life, it would be hard for the reader to relate with how he feels. Although Macbeth was hard to relate to, Hamlet was an easy person to relate with. Many of the characters in the play were on his side after his father died, and he did not act like a tyrant to the people he decided to surround himself with. This was easy for a reader to relate to since Hamlet showed an abundance amount of compassion to everyone he met. Whenever he asked the grave digger whose bones were in the grave, the grave digger replied that it was the old jester (Hamlet). This made Hamlet reflect on his past and fun times he

Macbeth was like a marionette puppet when it came to what he did. He was easily manipulated several times in the story. Being over trusting of the witches’ prophecies and Lady Macbeth were just two of the situations where is was easily manipulated. When the witches kept telling him the prophecies of him becoming a king, Macbeth wholeheartedly believed them. He even went to saying none of their prophecies could ever come true, but they did (Macbeth V. viii. 27-34). He was easily manipulated into believing this prophecies would never happen, which ultimately led to his death since the prophecies were true. He also was manipulated by Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth tried to convince Macbeth to go with the plan to kill Duncan after he was going to back out. It was easy for Lady Macbeth to manipulate him without really realizing because he trusted her. Macbeth being easily manipulated ultimately led to his death. In contrast, Hamlet had enough confidence to not believe in what others told him. Hamlet figured out that Claudius had killed his father and did not believe people whenever they said that he died of natural causes (Hamlet). Hamlet also showed confidence when he switched the letter that said he was to be put to death. A whole different situation could have arose if he did not successfully do that. Since he did, he was able to kill Claudius. If he did not have the confidence to switch the letters, he would have