Luke Skywalker And Hamlet Comparison

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In literature there are great stories and great heroes that make the stories memorable because of their individual characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses. This essay will focus on the protagonist Luke Skywalker from George Lucas’ film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and Hamlet from William Shakespeare’s play drama Hamlet. Luke is a common farm boy from Tatooine that wanted to go off to join the Imperial Academy, but has to stay to help his aunt and uncle tend to the farm. Hamlet, however, does not come from very humble beginnings. He is the Prince of Denmark, and is dealing with his fathers recent death along with his mothers remarriage to his uncle. Luke Skywalker and Hamlet are both the heroes of their stories. Both of these characters …show more content…

Luke and Hamlet share that they came from home culture that they weren't fully at ease with but thought they couldn't change, Luke’s being that he was going to stay a farm boy forever and Hamlets that he will have to live without his father and his uncle married to his mother controlling the kingdom. However once they have their call to adventure you start to see their character differences in the way that they react to their refusal of the call. Luke takes a very realistic approach to the refusal of the call, telling Obi Wan ‘Ben’ Kenobi that he can’t go on this epic journey because he needs to stay with his aunt and uncle tending to the farm. Hamlet takes a more dramatic approach. He starts by asking himself, “To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them”(Hamlet, Act III Scene I). Hamlet is asking himself what he should do with finding out that is his Uncle Claudius had killed his father to take over the throne and marry Hamlet’s mother. Hamlet is contemplating whether he should just continue life like normal always knowing this information, to get revenge as his father asked him to, or to just end it all by committing suicide so he doesn't have to deal …show more content…

Luke has many allies in his story that greatly excel his journey, such as: R2D2, C3PO, Obi Wan Kenobi, Han Solo, Princess Leia, and Chewbacca. With his allies there are also enemies that Luke has to face being: Darth Vader, Stormtroopers, The Imperial Empire, and the actual Death Star itself. Hamlet’s allies are a little bit shorter, he has his father’s ghost, the actors that act out “The Mouse Trap”, and Horatio who is really his only true ally that continuously helps him. Hamlet’s list of enemies far surpasses his allies, he has Claudius, Polonius, Gertrude, Ophelia, Laertes, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern. The circumstances with these two heroes allies and enemies are very different, from just comparing the two lists there are significantly more allies on Luke’s list rather than on Hamlets and the opposite when it comes to the enemies lists of each character. When taking an even deeper look it shows that the reason that Luke has so many allies is because he allows and even seeks out help from others, just like when Obi Wan and Luke met up with Han Solo and Chewbacca so that they could get help flying to Alderaan to get the plans to the Death Star to Princess Leia’s father and help defend the Rebel Base there. Hamlet really only has one true

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