For Oedipus to be considered successful, then, he would have had to challenge his own fate and succeed, rather than enact it entirely according to what was set out for him. In Hamlet, on the other hand, the enemy is tangible and human in the form of Hamlet's uncle, and thus Hamlet is able to confront and vanquish him. Thus, Oedipus represents a kind of ignorant struggle against the ideological forces which control anyone in society, a struggle that can never succeed so long as those forces remain indistinct and ephemeral. Hamlet, on the other hand, demonstrates a pointed struggle against some of the very same tendencies, but in this case, they are identified, named, and thus exists the potential for overcoming them.
Though written in wildly different historical contexts, Sophocles Oedipus Rex and William Shakespeare's Hamlet actually have a lot to say about each other, because the titular characters have so much in common. Both characters' stories revolve around the search for vengeance for a murder father of dubious moral quality, and both characters take on this task with gusto even as it becomes clear that attaining justice will be extremely difficult. However, this key similarity also contains a key difference, because Oedipus is ultimately responsible for his father's death while Hamlet is innocent, and this difference represents a kind of evolution on the part of the latter, because the crime and perversion has been drawn out and placed into another character, that of Hamlet's uncle. This distinction cascades through the story, because it also means that Oedipus and Hamlet will have vastly different relationships with their respective mothers; Oedipus is married to his
Finally, while both characters suffer from hubris in their attempts to find justice for their murdered fathers, only Hamlet is able to overcome this tragic flaw somewhat in order to find true justice. Oedipus cannot, because when considered alongside Hamlet, it becomes clear that the true villain is not Oedipus at all, but rather the society in which he finds himself, a society ruled by the dictates of gods and oracles. He cannot overcome this totalizing force, and is thus expelled from it, but, innocent as he is, Hamlet succeeds in challenging the authority of the society in which he finds himself, such that play ends with the utter destruction of the official forms of power.
Works Cited
Gillespie, Gerald. "Swallowing the Androgyne and Baptizing Mother: Some Modernist Twists to Two Basic Sacraments." The Comparatist 33 (2009): 63-85.
Searle, Leroy F. "The Conscience of the King: Oedipus, Hamlet, and the Problem of Reading."
Comparative Literature 49.4 (1997): 316-43.
Shakespeare, William. "Hamlet." Shakespeare Navigator. Philip Weller, 2012. Web. 28 Feb
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Sophocles. "Oedipus Rex." eText. eNotes, 2012. Web. 28 Feb 2012.
