Hamlet and Oedipus Rex: The Birth of Kings :: comparison compare contrast essays

Hamlet and Oedipus Rex The Birth of Kings          Two plays, Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare and OedipusRex, written by Sophocles share a common bond of put-on and innocence.The protagonists in both plays appear at the beginning only to have changedso that reality has broken through the illusion with less than desirableresults for either.  In these cardinal plays, two kings must leave theirinnocence rat as the truth leads them first, to en clevernessenment and thento their downfall.  This is a battle between the light and the darkness,the light being the truth and the darkness being the lie.  Throughout thetwo plays we can see that both are isolated in a earthly concern of their own,completely unaware of the truths surrounding them.  In Hamlets case,growing up under the loving care of his parents, he believes that his get down died of natural causes.    Or, in Oedipus case, the main characterthinks that he has escaped Apollos prophecy that decreed that he wouldgrow up and murder his father, the king, and marry his mother, the queen.This eventually leads to the oral sex at which both have their eyes openedto the reality surrounding their illusionary worlds.   Hamlet isapproached by the ghost of his dead father who reveals that his own brother,Hamlets uncle, polish off him.  Oedipus Rex discovers the truth when theblind prophet, Teiresias accuses him of being the one who murdered KingLaios therefore fulfilling his destiny in which he had sought to avoid.  Inthe end, the actions taken by both lead to their downfalls in differentways, death for Hamlet and release of vision for Oedipus Rex.         In the beginning, we see Hamlet living in an illusion blocking himfrom seeing what is really there.  Hamlet is under the belief that hisfather died of natural causes and nothing more.  As he comes to realize thetruth, he leaves behind the safe harbor of innocence and na&239vet&233 and entersthe uneasy world of adulthood and experience.   Standing within his castle,he makes a speech to himself and to god commenting on the quickness inwhich his mother married his uncle.  It is at this point where thebeginning of the end of his innocence starts.  He believes that by marryinghis uncle, his mother betrayed his father.  By doing that, the illusionthat his parents had the perfect union is shattered forever.  In the play,Hamlet says, must I remember? Why, she would hang on him. As if increaseof zest had grown. By what it fed on, and yet within a month.