What Are The Similarities Between Hamlet And Their Eyes Were Watching God

Throughout the semester we have discussed Hamlet and Their Eyes Were Watching God and relating common themes between the two. After examining the various literary pieces from this semester, I found that Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds by William Shakespeare, and Theme for English B by Langston Hughes to be relevant to the two major pieces of literature that we read. William Shakespeare was also the writer for the play Hamlet, which is interesting since the sonnet relates to ideas in the play as well as Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston. A major theme in the two main reads relates to love and its complications that come along with it. Love is an interesting and complex concept, between the two readings

Janie never had it easy growing up, she was raised by her grandmother without ever having the pleasure of meeting her father and mother. She was often picked on and randomly decided to kiss a young man Johnnie Taylor which angered her grandmother greatly. Her grandmother decided to marry her off to a wealthy middle aged man by the name of Logan, to ensure Janie was set for a higher quality of life. Janie instantly becomes battled since she didn’t love Logan, and after going to grandmother for advice, Janie was told to be patient and that the love will come over time. Grandmothers actions can be related to Sonnet 116, “It is the start to every wand’ring bark” (Shakespeare line 7), which acts as a metaphor to love by explaining the act of someone like Janie who in grandmother's eyes can be lost in life, giving her some purpose and hoping that Logan will help her grow as a person into something Janie will be proud of. At this point in the novel Grandmother's way of thinking would be considered wrong by most, but some could argue that her intentions were only positive, and that she was just trying to grow janie as a person,”Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.” (Chp 13 Hurston). Although this quote could be based on Janie's relationship with Joe later in

The play begins by having Hamlet's uncle marry Hamlet's recently-widowed mother in order to become the new King of Denmark. Hamlet, while mourning the death of this father, is disappointed at his mothers lack of loyalty at the same time. The guards of Denmark's Elsinore castle see a ghost that resembles Hamlet's deceased father and decide to tell Hamlet. In act 1 scene 5 the ghost appears to Hamlet, stating that he is the ghost of his father, and that Hamlet's uncle murdered him. This is a huge turning point in the play as Hamlet swears vengeance for his father. Early on in the play we can already start making inferences tied to Hamlet's mother and uncle, “Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds” (line 2 & 3 Shakespeare). Hamlet isn’t sure if his mother was in on the murder of his father, yet the ghost tells Hamlet not to worry and to “leave her to heaven”. After talking to the ghost Hamlet starts to act crazy on purpose, which can be seen when Hamlet writes a letter to Ophelia. In this letter he speaks in riddles, while at the same time sprinkling in hiding meanings, proving to the audience that at this point so far he is acting crazy on purpose. During act 3 things start to change when Hamlet starts to question his own existence and his purpose in life. Already you can see Hamlet start to battle with himself