William Shakespeares Hamlet and Sophocles Oedipus the King Essay

William Shakespeares small town and Sophocles Oedipus the KingThough Shakespeares crossroads and Sophocles Oedipus the King were indite in two different eras, echoes of the latter can be rear in the former. The common theme of Hamlet and Oedipus the King is regicide. Also, like in Oedipus the King, there is a direct relationship between the domain of the state and the state of their kings. Further much, there is also a relationship between Oedipus fortify entrance into the bedroom in which Jocasta hanged herself, and Hamlets confrontation of Gertrude in her bedroom. Both plays share the emphasis on a tragic mockery in the chain of events that lead up to ritual of catharsis, but the fleck of Hamlet makes a much more complicated character than that of the uncorrupted Greek cataclysm of Oedipus the King.Sophocles Oedipus King and Shakespeares Hamlet both contain the sanctioned elements of tragedy, although the Shakespearean tragedy expanded its setting far beyond that of the a ncient Greek tragedy. The tragic hero of Hamlet finds himself burdened with the task of avenging his fathers finish from the start of the play, and is not himself the source of the pollution of regicide, while Oedipus is of course the unwitting fashioner of his consume doom, which is unveiled to him through recognition and repentance. Sophocles has Oedipus foretelling his own tragedy when speaking to the people of Thebes. The city suffers as a result of Oedipusp resigne, and chaff is shown when Oedipus suggest that by avenging Laius he will protect himself, or that by getting children upon Jocasta, the dead kings wife, he will be taking the level of the son of Laius, which, unknowingly, is himself. I will bring it all to light... I shall rid us of this pollution, not for the sake of a distant relative, but for my own sake (Knox, 10). The irony reaches its peak when Oedipus calls on the prophet Tiresias to help debunk the murder of Laius and seek an cure to the plague the metaph or of vision is humourous in that the blind Tiresias can see what the seemingly brilliant Oedipus has overlooked, to wit the kings crimes of incest and murder. You are the murderer, you are the unholy defilement of this land(Knox, 23). Tiresias goes on to say I say that without knowing it you are living in shameful stuffiness with your nearest and dearest. You do not see the evil in which you get laid (K... .... It was Gertrudes subsequent reaction that led to the pivotal moment when Hamlet kills Polonius. The murder of Polonius was completely impetuous. Hamlet went from pondering murder to echtly committing murder. When he does so it is not the actual act that is insane, but his lack of sensation which is. Scarcely acknowledging what he has just done, he continues preaching to Gertrude, and accuses her of plotting to murder his father. With tristful visage, as against the doom, Is thought-sick at the act (Act 3, Scene 4). After an elongated interrogation which sounded more li ke an S&M chat, we begin to realize Gertrudess guilt for marrying Claudius, as well as her innocence in the actual plot to murder the King. It is only after the reappearance of the apparition that Hamlet begins to ease up on his mother.Hamlet and Oedipus the King though sooner different, have a lot in common. They are the similar from an oedipal perspective, as well as having in common the element of madness. Though umteen would have a problem putting Shakespeare in the same stratum as Sophocles, it is not difficult to place their works, Hamlet Oedipus the King respectively, in the same category.