Hamlet & Oedipus

In the tragic plays of Sophecles and Shakespeare we witness a shift in the emphasis from plot to character respectively. In Ancient Greek tragedy the emphasis is placed on dramatic action and plot to which the element of character is necessarily subordinate. In Shakespearean tragedy we witness not merely a shift but a reversal of this trend. Critics have all but unanimously treated Shakespeare as a genius of character development. Indeed, one modern critic has gone as far as to attribute to Shakespeare an extended role in the development of the modern individual (i.e. Bloom in Shakespeare and the Invention of the Human). The switch in emphasis from plot to character over the centuries is exhibited in Sophecles Oedipus and Shakespeare’s Hamlet. This paper will address this shift in emphasis as it is presented in the respective plays and will also offer speculation as to why the shift in emphasis from plot to character took place over the centuries.

A now famous piece of critical scholarship on Shakespeare named Shakespeare our contemporary. Indeed, the plays of Shakespeare and especially Hamlet have a modern feel that is undeniable. Modern audiences feel close to Hamlet and his problems of selfhood. As Shakespearean scholarship evinces, it is easy to confuse Shakespeare’s characters with actual people. Some critics have gone as far as to confuse themselves with the character of Hamlet, i.e. Coleridge. However, when we st

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o a harsh punishment in Shakespeare as is evinced by the speeches of Mowbray and Bullingbrook early in Richard II). In fact it is anachronistic to use the term individual when we refer to this aloof culture. The term for the individual in Ancient Greece, the idiot, from the Greek idiotes meaning something like one in a private station, was, as we can see from what the word has come to mean in its modern usage, not something of which to be proud. We might speculate that the emphasis on plot and action rather than character is a result of the Ancient Greek emphasis on the community rather than the individual. We cannot stress enough that individuality in Ancient Greece is a punishment and not something one attempts to achieve. It is well known that when Aristotle wrote his poetics he modeled his discussion of tragedy for the most part on Sophecles’ Oedipus. Of the six elements of tragedy that Aristotle discusses in his poetics, he says that “[t]he most important of these is the arrangement of incidents, for tragedy is an imitation, not of men but of action and life. . . . .These are to be found in action, and the goal of life is a certain kind of activity not a quality” (Aristotle 13). In other words, a character is what
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1613
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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