Greater Resilience: Oedipus Or Hamlet?

The authors of “Hamlet” and “Oedipus the King”, both use elements of tragedy in their work. The tragic tale of a hero Hamlet who finds himself  with the task of avenging his father's death who was killed by his brother, who then marries Hamlet’s mother. While in  Oedipus he himself is the person responsible for all his misfortune, which he discovers along the way through investigation and acceptance.

Hamlet by William Shakespeare and Oedipus the King by Sophocles are both tragic stories which contain many elements of which are similar and different. Although both Hamlet and Oedipus suffer from fate, Hamlet’s father is murdered by his brother Claudius, while Oedipus kills his own father. Both Hamlet and Oedipus have the opportunity to shun their fate, but the two men believe themselves to be the only individual who can resolve the predicament which they are faced with. The homeland of Hamlet and Oedipus, Denmark and Thebes, are both in a state of tumult. After Hamlet’s father’s death Denmark was presided by a new court, after Claudius, who in addition to murdering Hamlet’s father, became king by marrying his

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

Ultimately, he learns that Polypus and Merope were not his real parents and sets out to learn more information. Reality sets in that his fate was inevitable and that he ultimately fulfilled the prophecy. Initially filled with denial, Oedipus becomes more flexible in finding out more about the truth and accepts his fate. With Oedipus’s willingness to learn and acceptance of his actions and not deflecting the blame onto others, he takes the accountability and moves forward with the next steps. In the play, Oedipus says “With all these indications of the truth here in my grasp, I cannot end this now.

In the story Oedipus The King (Dramatic Tragedy), Oedipus The King plays a role that will ultimately determine his own fate in the end of the book. In the story we see many factors that play a role in Oedipus’s fate, and we see there are many factors that lead to Oedipus’s tragic downfall. In a book a character can be influenced by others and what others have done in the past, but ultimately the decisions is in the characters hands and is based off their personality which results in their fate. In the beginning of the story we can see that Oedipus’s character is displayed and it is first seen as heroic when he saves Thebes.

Oedipus is determined to find out who his birth parents are, he goes to the Oracle of Delphi. The Oracle cannot seem to tell him who is birth parents are, but she tells him that he is destined to kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus is trying to avoid fulfilling this prophecy, at the same time he walks himself right into it. Oedipus kills Laius at the crossroads, not knowing that Laius is his birth father, “You said that he reported it was the brigands Who killed the King. If he still speaks of ‘men’, It was not I; a single man, and ‘men’, Are not the same. But if he says it was A traveler journeying alone, why then, The burden of the guilt must fall on me,” (Sophocles 76). In this quote, Oedipus is admitting that he kills Laius, but he does not realize that Laius is his birth father because he is conceited and believes he knows everything. Oedipus is not aware that he commit one part of the

Oedipus’ initial introduction presents the character as a well-rounded man who is simply trying to help his people and serve justice. In the

The two plays have many series of unfortunate events that presents itself to the reader throughout the play for each of the protagonists. Both Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex” and Shakespeare’s’ “Hamlet” deals with the acts of murder and betrayal in different ways in order to

When the shepherd arrived, Jocasta realizing what had occurred, fled to the palace and killed herself. The Herdsman told Oedipus, “The child was called his child; but she within, / your wife would tell you the best how all this was” (1171-1172). After hearing this Oedipus grasped what happened. Jocasta had had a child with Laius and after hearing the oracle that he was to murder his father and sleep with his mother, sent him away to be killed. However, the herdsman she gave little Oedipus to did not have the heart to murder him and thus gave him to another shepherd to be sent far away. When Oedipus was grown and had heard the oracle of his life, he ran away hoping the oracle would never be fulfilled, but in the process fulfilled the oracle with no knowledge of it. After recognizing the truth, he gouged out his eyes and exiled himself from the city.

Sophocles' 'Oedipus Rex' and Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' are similar in the fact that they both contain elements of tragedy. In each playwright, the protagonist's motivation is fueled by a quest for truth, and the audience connects with the universal desire to seek justice when a wrongful act is committed. The way that the characters differ is that they both are seeking revenge, but in Oedipus, there is an underlying irony. In the story of Oedipus Rex, Oedipus pursues justice for the murder of Laius, the former king of Thebes, but unknowingly unravels an unfortunate truth of Laius being Oedipus' father and the person at fault is himself. Whereas, Hamlet is burdened with the need to avenge his father's death, proclaimed by the presumed ghost of King

Oedipus the King by Sophocles and Hamlet by Shakespeare are two plays that both explore the idea of taking revenge. While both plays use the idea of revenge to continually progress the plot forward, the motivations behind the two characters strive for revenge have some differences. In Oedipus the King, the motivation for Oedipus’ revenge is to stop the plague that has been brought upon to the people of Thebes, while the motivation for Hamlet is to avenge his father's death. The outcomes of each character’s strive for revenge is quite different from each other as Hamlet ends up killing more people than he needs to and Oedipus discovers a dark secret about himself. Both Oedipus and Hamlet are characters that are familiar with royalty as Hamlet

Although Jocasta makes it very clear that Oedipus is very “ill-fated” since he is her son and kills his father, he preoccupies himself so much in his quest for the truth that he doesn’t notice this. This contrast shows that Hamlet always has a sane mental state as he is able to think clearly and act, while Oedipus acts without thinking or consideration. This proves that Hamlet is in control of his mind as he went on to complete his destiny, while Oedipus is not. Hamlet acts with free-will since he can think freely, but Oedipus is never in control of both his mind and his

He didn’t have to deal with fate the way Oedipus had to. Hamlet did not follow the rule referring to there only being one plot and taking place at one scene. In this sense, Oedipus was more accurately conveyed as a tragedy, because it occurred in only one scene. Also, there was only one plot throughout the entire story, However, both were born into royalty and were definitely not like the average person. They have to start out on top to be capable of their catastrophic downfall.

Curiosity and revenge are what make every form of entertainment in the action genre truly enjoyable. The characters draw the audience in and take them through a plot to find justice. Separated by around 2000 years, Sophocles's Oedipus Rex and Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Hamlet: Prince of Denmark both possess a plot akin to each other with a similar main idea of attempting to discover the main character’s father’s murderer. These famous tragedies depict two tragic heroes plagued with incestuous mothers and bad luck who fight to find truth and justice. Although both plays are similar in plot, the characterization of Hamlet and Oedipus have crucial differences which begin to appear: Oedipus is dependent on external forces and unorganized in his search for his father’s killer, whereas Hamlet is highly affected by internal forces and meticulous with his planning.

Hamlet is more of a thinker and planner, whereas Oedipus is more emotional and impulsive. When it comes to the characters motivations, Oedipus is motivated to figure out who murdered the former king. Hamlet’s motivation is to seek revenge on the man who took his father’s throne, and married his