Chapter Four: Now, Where Have I Seen Her Before?
We’ll simply note that newer works are having a dialogue with older ones, and they often indicate the presence of this conversation by invoking older texts with anything from oblique references to extensive quotations. (Foster 30).
How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines authored by Thomas C. Foster stresses that “there’s no such thing as a wholly original work of literature” (Foster 24) as illustrated through the striking resemblances between Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. Though geography and era differ, the plotline of both plays are essentially brethren.
Oedipus and Hamlet are both haunting, murderous, and incestuous tales of self-discovery and self-destruction.
The parallel structure of the plays are evident within the main plots of both stories: both of the main characters are haunted by the past and afflicted by the past that has now come and poisoned the kingdoms. Oedipus and Hamlet both embark on a mission to avenge a murdered king, yet in finding the culprit, the truth threatens to tear to the royal family apart. …show more content…
For example, in Oedipus Rex the king is forced to face his past and fate as the Oracle from Delphi professes that salvation of Thebes can only be found in bringing the murderer of the previous king to justice. Similarly, in Hamlet, Prince Hamlet is visited by a supernatural being, the Ghost of King Hamlet, and informs Hamlet that his uncle and stepfather, Claudius, had poisoned his brother and the ghost demands Hamlet avenge his death. The common occurrence of death in the beginning of the tragedies symbolizes the death of kingdoms caused from revenge, fury, and hatred. As illustrated in both plays as all internal members of the royal family break into havoc and the destruction of the "state"
We’ll simply note that newer works are having a dialogue with older ones, and they often indicate the presence of this conversation by invoking older texts with anything from oblique references to extensive quotations. (Foster 30).
How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines authored by Thomas C. Foster stresses that “there’s no such thing as a wholly original work of literature” (Foster 24) as illustrated through the striking resemblances between Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. Though geography and era differ, the plotline of both plays are essentially brethren.
Oedipus and Hamlet are both haunting, murderous, and incestuous tales of self-discovery and self-destruction.
The parallel structure of the plays are evident within the main plots of both stories: both of the main characters are haunted by the past and afflicted by the past that has now come and poisoned the kingdoms. Oedipus and Hamlet both embark on a mission to avenge a murdered king, yet in finding the culprit, the truth threatens to tear to the royal family apart. …show more content…
For example, in Oedipus Rex the king is forced to face his past and fate as the Oracle from Delphi professes that salvation of Thebes can only be found in bringing the murderer of the previous king to justice. Similarly, in Hamlet, Prince Hamlet is visited by a supernatural being, the Ghost of King Hamlet, and informs Hamlet that his uncle and stepfather, Claudius, had poisoned his brother and the ghost demands Hamlet avenge his death. The common occurrence of death in the beginning of the tragedies symbolizes the death of kingdoms caused from revenge, fury, and hatred. As illustrated in both plays as all internal members of the royal family break into havoc and the destruction of the "state"