Hamlet versus Oedipus

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Recommended: Compare Hamlet with Oedipus

Since time has begun, the battle between good and evil has been the epic foretelling of man’s hardened sense of self. Whether in the theater of war fought on open battlegrounds, or if it’s just the little angel or demon that sits on your shoulder telling you right and wrong. The battle of ones angels and demons are constant and never ending until death when one meets their ultimate fate. Hamlet and Oedipus suffer from their own individual flaws which propel them towards their unfortunate fate. Hamlet’s father is murdered by his brother Claudius, while Oedipus kills his own father. Hamlet and Oedipus’ homelands are in turmoil. Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, took over the kingdom of Denmark after murdering his own brother, Old King Hamlet and for Oedipus the only way to rid Thebes of its downward spiral of death and disease was to abolish the individual responsible for Laius’ murder. Hamlet by William Shakespeare and Oedipus the King by Sophocles are both tragic stories of two men with tragic flaws that ultimately send them down a path of destruction.
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