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Oedipus Rex Vs Hamlet Resilience Essay

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Hamlet vs Oedipus Resilience Essay People all around the world experience and demonstrate resilience differently. It arises in different situations when needed, and thrives when the right conditions are involved. In William Shakespeare’s play; “Hamlet,” and Sophocles’s play; “Oedipus Rex,” both main characters show resilience. The main character of Hamlet - Hamlet - is a young prince whose father was murdered. The main character of Oedipus Rex - Oedipus - is a king who is determined to solve the mystery of his prophecy. However, only one of the two royals shows greater resiliency than the other for a plethora of reasons. Hamlet is more resilient than Oedipus Rex due to his willingness to accept fate, ability to adapt, and inclination to absolve. …show more content…

Forgiveness is a challenging skill to harness that must be used to overcome challenges and continue in life. When done properly, resilience is able to shine from it. Absolving allows a character to let go of hurt and move forward from a negative experience, along with continuing to work to accomplish their goals without having something holding them back. If all of this is executed, a character is able to exemplify resilience. Hamlet is able to forgive Laertes and even requests for his forgiveness. He states, “Heaven make thee free of it!” (5, 2, 294). By Hamlet displaying this, it exhibits his resilience due to the fact that he is able to let go of his painful feelings towards Laertes and move on from it. Conversely, Oedipus is not able to absolve Creon. Although he did not do anything to Oedipus, he is still unable to forgive Creon and even wants him to perish by expressing, “No. I want you to die.” (754). Creon could have given Oedipus advice during his journey of discovering the prophecy. However, after driving Creon away, he lost that privilege. Overall, if Oedipus was able to forgive Creon for delivering a prophecy and were able to reconcile, Oedipus’s life may have had different outcomes. Henche, Hamlet’s ability to forgive illustrates a greater sense of resilience than

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When you finally forgive about the past you learn a lesson and you know what to do for the future to come. Sometimes the best revenge is smiling and to just move on. Within both the play of Hamlet and the book Frankenstein neither took that into consideration. The characters dealt with the struggle of revenge and the revenge of others. Hamlet’s tragedy is his downfall; his on going quest to avenge his father brings him to death.

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Beena Issa Ms. Zyla ENG4UI-02 28 March 2023 Hamlet versus Oedipus: Who is More Resilient? The ability to adapt to and surmount life’s adversities is a key trait recognized as resilience. When one possesses the quality of resilience, they become closer to achieving their ultimate goals. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, both Hamlet and Oedipus are presented with trials and tribulations that they are forced to face.

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Resilience in Oedipus Rex and Hamlet: Which character showed greater resilience? Which character showed greater resilience? Both characters face immense obstacles and tragic endings and though both display resilience, Hamlet’s later approach to his unfortunate situation shows that his resilience is greater than Oedipus’s. Although Hamlet is more resilient, both characters struggle with the ability to bounce back quickly from difficult situations, which is the thing that's needed to make one resilient. Resilient people have control over their emotions and don’t rely solely on fate.

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Similarly, in Sophocles' tragic play, "Oedipus Rex," Oedipus grapples with the challenge of uncovering the murderer of the late king, only to discover that the old king is his father whom he unknowingly killed years ago. During this journey, he discovers that he has married his mother and procreated with her. Despite these different trials, both characters navigate treacherous paths and demonstrate their resilience in the face of unimaginable circumstances. In "Hamlet," the character of Hamlet displays greater resilience compared to Oedipus in "Oedipus Rex" through his willingness to confront the truth, reliance on free will rather than fate, and unwavering determination to fight until his final

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They also both set out to find the truth despite the consequences that may occur. The truth being that Hamlet father was murdered by his uncle and Oedipus killed his father. Hamlet

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Hamlet on the other hand tends to share his and others people’s desires when choosing what actions to take. His actions have shown that he cares about other people’s feelings. This becomes obvious when Hamlet apologizes to Laertes and when he agrees immediately to help his dead father exact revenge. This decision to help his father wholeheartedly is initially what started Hamlet down his path to his death. This shows the flaw that he is will to do whatever to help his father even if it means dying.

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Hamlet and Oedipus share some common background, as in they both come from well-off families. Oedipus was born with the blood of gods and also raised by King Polybus and Queen Merope in Corinth. Hamlet was the prince of Denmark, soon to be king. They also have somewhat similar motivation when it comes to the the decision and need to kill the current king from each story. Hamlet’s motivation is the fact that he was questioning about his father’s death as well as his mom’s strange reaction since she had already moved on to a new marriage with Hamlet’s uncle.

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To further elaborate, Hamlet, explains, “Why, this is hire and salary, not revenge” (Hamlet 3.3.79). Hamlet believes that he will not be doing his father justice if he kills Claudius after he is forgiven of his sins. Hamlet continues, “To take him in the purging of his soul / When he is fit and season 'd for his passage?... / Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent” (Ham.3.3.85–88). By not taking advantage of the opportunity, Hamlet once again delays in fulfilling his vow to his father.

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Oedipus the King is a tragedy that was written by Sophocles that emphasizes the irony of an irony of a man who was determined to trace down, expose and punish an assassin who in turn became him. Oedipus the King is also known as Oedipus Rex or Oedipus Tyrannus. The art is an Athenian play that was performed in ages approximated to be 429 BC. Oedipus the King would later in the play fulfill the prophecy that he would kill his father and later on marry his mother. There is a twist of an event in the play where Oedipus is looking for the murderer of his father to bring to a halt the series of plagues that are befalling Thebes but only to find he is in search of himself (Rado, 1956).

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As Hamlet expresses his anger at his mother, he hears a noise from the tapestry, and, thinking it is a rat, kills Polonius with his sword (3.4.24). Hamlet is overcome with revenge, and becomes easily irritable. As a result, he kills Polonius inadvertently. The fact that revenge overrides any rational instinct in Hamlet reminds students that vengeance causes illogical thinking, and, in turn, serious consequences. Removing Hamlet’s cautionary exemplar would significantly impede a teenager’s apprehension of a critical life lesson.

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(Hamlet 568-82). Hamlet feels pity for himself for being in such a horrible situations with his father’s death, his mother’s quick marriage, and his depression but he is angry at himself for not doing anything about his situation, for not avenging his father against a horrible person. He does not create a revenge plan, he does not speak for his father, etc. He is frustrated and angry because wanted to avenge his father but he does not follow through with his desires. Hamlet then begins to fire up with anger and motivation for revenge against Claudius.

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Hamlet and Oedipus Rex are both sharing some common themes. '' self- destruction'' is one example of them. Oedipus's personality leads him to his self-destruction because he is '' a man of quick action and hasty conclusions who doesn't even attempt to foresee the consequences of his actions.'' () Similarly, Hamlet selfishness leads him to his own destiny. He didn’t think how his actions would affect others.

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In William Shakespeare 's play Hamlet, the most heroic and brave character is young Hamlet. Despite the fact Hamlet is stranded amidst a court filled with dishonesty and misconduct and is confronted by the death of his father and his mom 's relatively quick marriage to his father 's brother, he is viewed as daring and bold in the minds of readers. For, it is his courageousness, fearlessness, determination and bravery that proves that Hamlet is not only a strong willed individual but also the most heroic character in the play. " But two months dead…my poor father’s body…why she married with my uncle, my father’s brother, but no more like my father…But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue" (

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Through the entirety of the play “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare, the characters were overcome with the need for revenge as the outcome of many deaths. Therefore, no one was happy through “Hamlet” and it resulted in a tragedy. The character Hamlet played a big role in turning towards revenge and never would classify himself as being happy. Hamlet displays positive and negative behavior throughout the play. Hamlet exhibits strengths and weaknesses as well, although his weaknesses of over-thinking, bitterness, and his inability to accept the death of his father overshadow his strengths.

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However, continuing with Hamlet’s incessant need for vengeance, the actions and drastic measures he takes in order to achieve such certainty are both incredibly genius and rightfully insane. Despite his methods and lack of will to act until he is absolutely positive with his facts, Hamlet proves that his way is the best way. Although Hamlet had numerous opportunities to act upon his revenge, he waited until he was absolutely sure of his suspicions, even when he could have easily retributed in his own controlled environment. Unlike many other named characters, Hamlet did not let outside sources sway his perception and perspective on the situation. For example, Laertes had insisted that nothing could be said or done in order for him to change his mind on acting upon his own vengeance, yet Claudius’ words had done just that, and Laertes ended up paying the price when he was killed upon his own poisoned sword.

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