Free Essays - Oedipus vs. Hamlet as Tragic Protagonists
Oedipus fits Aristotle's definition of the tragic flaw and protagonist almost flawlessly. Aristotle described the protagonist as "someone regarded as extraordinary rather than typical..."(1117). Oedipus freed Thebes from the Sphinx by solving her riddle-- something nobody else had been able to do. The priest in the first scene of Act I calls Oedipus "...our greatest power" (1121) and describes him as rated first among men.
Hamlet is of noble birth but there is nothing else extraordinary about him. Unlike Oedipus, he had not saved a kingdom; he just happened to be born a prince. In tragedies the protagonists are usually of the nobility to make their falls seem greater. However, Aristotle said "What is finally important is not so much the protagonist's social stature as a greatness of character..." (1117).
Protagonists, as described in our book, must also have a "determination to meet some goal or task to make them admirable"(1118). Oedipus set about to find the killer of King Laius to free Thebes from plagues. Hamlet's goal was to avenge the murder of his father. Oedipus immediately began to look for the killer, even when the evidence pointed to himself and ruined his life. Hamlet seems to put off killing Claudius. He chose not to murder him as he prays is Act III scene iii. In Act III scene i Hamlet says: " I'll observe his looks: I'll tent him to the quick: if 'a do blench, I know my course. The spirit I have seen may be a devil:"(1315) Even after the ghost tells Hamlet how he was murdered, Hamlet has the players act it out just to be sure. Obviously, there is no hard resolution for him to finish his task.
Arthur Miller has said "tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life.
Traditionally, a tragic hero is one who is of noble or high birth. Hamlet himself is a prince while Winston Smith, in respect to the social hierarchy of Oceania, would be considered only a middle class citizen. Merely the fact that Hamlet is a prince does not mean that this title alone describes a hero, but rather a hero can describe the title. “Hamlet’s appeal derives from his youth, intelligence, charm, vulnerability, and above all, his intellectual and emotional honesty. He is a raw nerve n the Danish court, disconcertingly liable to make the instinctive rather than the conditioned response” (Wells 315). Traditionally those who are born into a world of higher class society and rebel against it tend to be the more concerned with the needs of others and sympathize with them. Those born of a lower class tend to be concerned with their own welfare and raising their standing in society.
Jackson, P. (1992). (in)Forming the Visual: (re)Presenting Women of African Descent. International Review of African American Art. 14 (3), 31-7.
The poem “Those Winter Sundays” displays a past relationship between a child and his father. Hayden makes use of past tense phrases such as “I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking” (6) to show the readers that the child is remembering certain events that took place in the past. Although the child’s father did not openly express his love towards him when he was growing up, the child now feels a great amount of guilt for never thanking his father for all the things he actually did for him and his family. This poem proves that love can come in more than one form, and it is not always a completely obvious act.
What would you do if someone told you you would end up killing your father and marrying your mother when you grow up? You would do anything to keep that from happening, wouldn’t you? Oedipus did in Oedipus the King by Sophocles. Unfortunately, Oedipus fails in avoiding his fate. Faced with a choice between pursuing the truth which everyone tells him would lead to his destruction or accepting a life without knowing any better, Oedipus chooses self-knowledge over self-deception. This makes Oedipus a perfect example of a tragic hero. In Greek drama, a tragic hero is a protagonist of a noble birth who possesses a tragic flaw that leads to his down fall but shows the courage to accept responsibility for his own actions.
The two strategies I have chosen to offer a research approach to will be the time horizon for the study and unit of analysis. For the time horizon there are two basic concept to choose from cross-sectional study or a longitudinal study. A cross-sectional study is a one shot approach to collecting data over a short set period of time where a longitudinal study collect data at several point in time after changes have been made to the study environment. Based off
According to Aristotle, the protagonist in a tragedy must have a tragic flaw that ultimately becomes the cause of his ruin. Oedipus in Oedipus the King by Sophocles tragic flaw that caused his downfall was his pride. Three examples of when Oedipus’ pride got the better of him were: when he left his adopted parents in Cornith, the second is when he goes against Creon, and the third is when Oedipus is demanding that the messenger tell him all he knows about who his real parents are.
According to Aristotle there are five characteristics of a tragic hero: Flaw or error of judgment, (Peripeteia) a reversal of fortune, the enlightenment (anagnorisis) the discovery or recognition, (hubris) excessive pride, and the character’s fate. Oedipus finds the elders of Thebes praying to the gods for liberation of the plague. Oedipus “alone can help. The cause of the trouble is himself; the chances he has had in his life are precisely the source of the plague” (Diski 1). Oedipus is the cause and the solution to end the plague, but he is blind to the true. Hamlet, differently from Oedipus, is a “man of thought and action, a justice seeker and a criminal, a victim and a wrongdoer, a deeply reflective introvert and a man capable of acting on impulse” (McHugh 1). Hamlet’s free will, injected him with the desire to vengeance his father at any cause. Both Hamlet and Oedipus meet all of the characteristics of a tragic hero. In the beginning of both stories is introduced the first characteristic of a tragic hero, the flaw and error of judgment. In Hamlet, the ghost of his father tells him to revenge his death and In Oedipus; the oracle warns Oedipus about killing his father. Next, the reversal of fortune, in both tragedies leads to the death of their mothers. The anagnorisis of Hamlet was when he discovered how his father died and in Oedipus when the shepherd recognized Oedipus as the killer of Laius. The hubris overpowered both heroes, Hamlet for vengeance of his father’s death and Oedipus to revenge the death of Laius, which ironically was his real father, and he had killed him. Hamlet and Oedipus have the five characteristics of a tragic hero, the main characteristic that both share, is the error of judgment, however, their fate ...
Paradise: Painting in America 1800-1959. Ed. Kynaston McShine. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1976.
In The Dark Knight, movie begins with Batman an appreciated hero who saves the city only to fall and become the enemy of Gotham City. Similarly in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, King Claudius is introduced as the new honored king of Denmark. As the play progresses, we find out he usurped power in killing King Hamlet, which will lead to his downfall. In Aristotle’s Poetics, he believes that objects of imitation are men in action and the men must be either of a higher or a lower type. A tragedy should aim for characters of a higher state or are better than in real life. Hamlet makes a good tragedy by its use of strong story structure, actions bringing about pity and fear, and Reversal in Recognition.
Tragedy comes in many forms, for example earthquakes, tornadoes and hurricanes are all types of tragedies. On the other hand, when talking about tragedy in literature, it has a whole different meaning. Tragedy in literature is on a smaller scale than things like earthquakes, tornadoes and hurricanes. In literature tragedy is usually about one person and the horrible things that happen to them during their life in a story or play.
What makes American literature American? With aspects devoted to the discussion of poetry from pages 402 and 403 and the use of free verse by Walt Whitman.
Whitman’s work has an arguable style that makes his work appear as an egotistical piece of literature for some and others may find a different deeper meaning within his work. This work is an excellent example of patriotic work that attempts better its audience throughout by making revelations and comparisons of different idea and thoughts about the nation's people. Whitman illustrates his interpretation of what a kind of person is a great person is and how they go about life. He intends to make his audience better as a whole and understand the underlying problem that some have. Whitman's writing truly expresses his feelings about his time and what he expects from them for a better
The concept of tragic hero is very important in the construction of tragedy. It is the main cause of pity and fear. The tragic hero is a character between the two extremes; he is neither virtuous nor evil. At the same time, this character is better than the ordinary men or audience, he has some good qualities. Moreover, as a tragic hero, he is moving from happiness to misery by his downfall at the end. In fact, this downfall is caused by an error or a flaw in his character not by a vice or depravity. Another feature in the tragic hero is that he has good reputation and he is a man of prosperity. It can be said that Oedipus is a tragic hero because he has all the previous mentioned characteristics and the whole play is a classical application of this concept.
Whitman’s method of examining each subject as a whole can be possibly explained by his belief of national pride. His hope of unity within our country during the Civil War, can be illustrated in his piece titled, “Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night.” The disappointment Whitman felt after witnessing the brutality of the Civil War while he volunteered as a member of the medical staff, can be evidenced in a great deal of his work, and none better than this tremendous Civil War poem.
Walt Whitman was a great poet who profoundly influenced American culture. From his humble beginnings on the Long Island shore to his early careers working as an office boy and apprenticeship to “The Patriot”, Whitman began to develop his ideals and educate himself. Looking back to the events of his childhood, Whitman began to author great poems and wrote his famous book “Leaves of Grass.” Whitman gave America cultural roots and set an example for poets to follow. Whitman truly was America’s poet.