Within literature, tragedy is generally exemplified by a grave and unfortunate situation that is inflicted onto a heroic figure, causing emotions of sorrow and pity for its audience. Today tragedies can be delivered in various literary forms, yet centuries ago a tragedy exclusively pertained to stage performances. The iconic plays of Oedipus the King by Sophocles and Hamlet by William Shakespeare are examples of two traditional tragedies from two different eras, Greek and Elizabethan. It’s due to the similarity in their genre that both tragedies have various underlying similarities within their plot. Yet, due to situational differences the tragedies can be categorized into two different literary subgenres, Greek and Elizabethan tragedies.
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For Oedipus, the ruler of Thebes, the god’s informed him and his people that they must “drive out the thing that defiles [the] land which… [they] have fed and cherished” (pg.9), the murderer of the previous ruler, Laius. The murder is thus causing the spoiling and desecration of the city of Thebes Likewise, Prince Hamlet, who returned back to his state of Denmark for his father’s funeral, was proposed a very similar task as Oedipus. One night Hamlet encountered an apparition of his father who proclaimed that Hamlet’s Uncle Claudius, who became the new King of Denmark after marrying Hamlet’s widowed mother, had poisoned him. The ghost had also mentioned that Claudius was “abusing” the state of Denmark, and that if Hamlet could he must not let “Denmark be a couch for luxury and damned incest” (pg.33). Thus, both Oedipus and Hamlet were given the same task of redeeming their land from the corrupt individual who committed regicide and eluded any type of …show more content…
Thus, Hamlet had to act accordingly to find the corrupt individual who plagued Denmark, while Oedipus had a much easier investigation seeing he was the ruler of Thebes and there was no limitation in his power or safety. Thus, the situational difference between Oedipus and Hamlet as characters had once again caused a difference between the two tragedies, in terms of their approach in discovering the
For Oedipus, the ruler of Thebes, the god’s informed him and his people that they must “drive out the thing that defiles [the] land which… [they] have fed and cherished” (pg.9), the murderer of the previous ruler, Laius. The murder is thus causing the spoiling and desecration of the city of Thebes Likewise, Prince Hamlet, who returned back to his state of Denmark for his father’s funeral, was proposed a very similar task as Oedipus. One night Hamlet encountered an apparition of his father who proclaimed that Hamlet’s Uncle Claudius, who became the new King of Denmark after marrying Hamlet’s widowed mother, had poisoned him. The ghost had also mentioned that Claudius was “abusing” the state of Denmark, and that if Hamlet could he must not let “Denmark be a couch for luxury and damned incest” (pg.33). Thus, both Oedipus and Hamlet were given the same task of redeeming their land from the corrupt individual who committed regicide and eluded any type of …show more content…
Thus, Hamlet had to act accordingly to find the corrupt individual who plagued Denmark, while Oedipus had a much easier investigation seeing he was the ruler of Thebes and there was no limitation in his power or safety. Thus, the situational difference between Oedipus and Hamlet as characters had once again caused a difference between the two tragedies, in terms of their approach in discovering the