Hamlet Batman Compare And Contrast

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The stories of Hamlet and Batman have inspired endless versions across multiple media, in which they are told repeatedly and considerable demand for more versions. In addition, these stories of heroes and villains provide endless fodder for investigations into the human psyche. There are a lot of amazing and surprising similarities between Hamlet and Batman, so Ben Affleck an Oscar winning actor, writer, and director even declared “Batman is the basically American version of Hamlet”.
One of the most common aspect between these characters as well as their stories is that both of Hamlet and Batman have the great impress on culture, society, and literature. “Hamlet is supposedly the most quoted figure in Western culture after Jesus, maybe the most charismatic too” (Bloom 384). Shakespeare’s Hamlet is the world’s most famous play by the world’s most famous writer. Hamlet “holds a significant place in world literature and occupy a major part of literary” academics (FamousAuthors.org). Similarly, Batman has become an internationally recognized figure, his distinctive logo one of the top five recognized symbols in the world (Batman: Cover to Cover 206). Comic book of Batman also …show more content…

Hamlet is also characterized by his indecision and procrastination. His suffering from the dilemma of killing or not killing his uncle Claudius directly leads to the deaths of almost everyone, and even when he finally decides to act, he accidentally kills Polonius, but he eventually kills Claudius. On the contrary, in the Batman story, Batman does not kill anyone, even his biggest enemy Joker, and he also does not hesitate to revenge for his parents’ deaths. After his parents are murdered, Bruce Wayne perceives what he has to do, and he decisively takes the actions. He totally lacks Hamlet's reluctance and becomes a much more proactive character, and the end of the Batman story is seemingly happier than the Hamlet’s