Hamlet And Oedipus

The two timeless literature classics, Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, portray the inner nature of their principle characters in a battle of good versus evil. In the beginning of each play, the protagonists namely Oedipus and Hamlet show noble traits that depict an inner drive to do good for the entire society. Oedipus is actually an admirable character. This is the main reason why the people of Thebes make him their king after he saves them from the Sphinx by answering its riddle. He earns their love and respect for his deep belief in helping others. His motives are honest and what transpires afterwards happens to him due to outside influence from others. He is entirely responsible for his mistakes because fate had already marked him for the misfortunes that befell him.

As opposed to Oedipus, Hamlet never had to earn respect but was instead born into it as a prince. This nobility however brings out different characteristic traits in the two characters. These traits emerge clearly in the theme of incestuous relationships. Hamlet for one is a practical application of the Freudian concept of Oedipus complex. In Freudian terms, Hamlet undergoes a personal crisis which provokes parricidal and incestuous desires that had all along been suppressed which is why we see the disgust and provocation of violent behavior, possibly jealous, after the remarriage of his mother. This jealous which he experiences unconsciously is best portrayed in the confrontation inside the queen’s bedroom. He is repulsed by the idea that his mother could harbor intimate feelings for Claudius who he refers to as a murderer and a villain.

Hamlet may be prone to violent reactions but is incapable of putting his violence to action. He is incapable of avenging the death of his father by killing the man responsible. When he has a chance of killing the defenseless murderer, he lets his inner doubts get the better of him and thinks of how his father met his death instead (Bloom 12). He believes killing Claudius while the man is praying for forgiveness of his sins he will be sending him to heaven instead of hell where he would want him to be. Thus he says:

Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent:When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage,Or in th’ incestuous pleasure of his bedAt game a-swearing, or about some actThat has no relish of salvation in’t-Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven,And that his soul may be damn’d and blackAs hell, whereto it goes. (III, iii, 88-95).

He is not only unable to kill Claudius but can not even prevent him from being with his mother too. This can only be attributed to the assumption that Hamlet is probably held back by guilty feelings of being different than the person he longs to punish.

Oedipus on the other hand is prone to fast rash decisions and given to a quick temper. While his inner motivation is easily provoked to action, Hamlet is only able to sit back wondering to kill Claudius or not. Oedipus is given to pride and enjoys appreciation of others though he is a selfless man. He gives a lot of attention to his image and how his subjects perceive him. His inner motives for this attitude are not malicious but simply aimed at giving the best of his service to his people. He is passionate about his status, about his wife who is also his mother, about the people of Thebes, as well as in his concern for Polybus and Merope.

In his “to be or not to be” speech, Hamlet is addressing his own situation. He has betrayal from all the people who were supposed to be on his side including his mother, his uncle, and friends. He is all alone after all he had disappears. This makes him even doubtful of himself and wonders what is left for him by saying:

To be or not to be, that is the question:Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,Or to take arms against a sea of trouble,And by opposing, end them. (III, i, 55-59).

Literally, Oedipus is not a blind person but his inability to see the truth that is obvious to him shows that he lacks both wisdom and inner vision. This inability to see the glaring truth is demonstrated by several factors. First is his inability to know that he is actually the murderer of Laius. Such is his blindness to the fact that he committed the murder that he pronounces a curse to himself if the murderer should turn out to be a member of his household: “And as for me, this curse applies no less/ If it should turn out that the culprit is my guest here/ sharing my hearth” (I, i, 235-237). What he fails to realize is that he is actually cursing himself.

In the eventual analysis, the major change in Oedipus is that he can not stand the painful reality and opts to blind himself than live to see the damage he has caused, for example the children he sired with his own mother. He pierces his eyes with pins in order to be blind crying out “No more shall you look on the misery about me/ The horrors of my own doing! Too long have you known/ The faces of those I should never have seen” (I, iv, 1223-1225). He prefers to live behind a veil of darkness than see the horrors he created. This implies that Oedipus has undergone a change for the better in his inner personality and become a repentant person who is willing to atone for his mistakes.

Hamlet begins as a moody person and quite sensitive person. He is in awe of his dead father and does not care about his image or he would not have feigned madness. The changes in his character get from worse to worst as he immerses himself in doubts and becomes incapable of showing any love for anyone besides his father. His concern for his mother is also doubtful because he was intent on killing her if his father’s ghost had told him so. He even rejects his professed love for Ophelia and claims it is not real later on. Inwardly he is incapable of truly and genuinely loving anyone. His biggest passion is about killing Claudius. The changes that occur within him are for the worse.

Works Cited

Bloom, Harold, and William Hazlitt. “Hamlet.” Bloom’s Major Literary Characters: Hamlet.Mequon-Thiensville: Literary Reference Center, 2004. 9-14.

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. Harold Jenkins. London: Methuen, 1982. Print.

Sophocles. “Oedipus Rex.”Literature, Structure, Sound, and Sense. Laurence Perrine. NewYork, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1978. 1085-1127. Print.