Hamlet vs The Bacchae
Hamlet and The Bacchae have many similarities and differences, in this paper, Iwill discuss some of them, as well as the questions posed in class. Both of these plays are tragedies, ending with a great number of the featured characters dying, or First of all, I don’t think that Hamlet took place in a godless universe. Of course, the god in Hamlet, vs. the gods in The Bacchae are very different gods. In Hamlet, God affects the decisions the characters make (e.g., Hamlet decides not to kill Claudius while he’s praying, because he believes God will forgive Claudius for his sins, and not send him to hell), however he doesn’t have a direct role. You have no proof of a god in Hamlet, while in The Bacchae, the gods are the main characters in the play, performing a good percentage of the action. Also, the presence of the ghost means that in the world of Hamlet, there is an afterlife, but . . .
Neither Hamlet, nor The Bacchae ends in a pleasant way, which is characteristic of a tragedy. However, when he actually does kill Claudius at the end, it’s not really out of pure passion. He was simply in a bad mood, so his revenge was also taken out on them. Hamlet’s revenge tended to have logic, and was fairer to those that weren’t the point of his revenge. Hamlet does have reasons, although there are cases in which Hamlet kills out of passion. It’s much more a planned, logical murder. Continuing with the issue of the ghost, the presence of the ghost in the play has many implications. In some cases, Dionysus took out his revenge on people that he had no dispute with. First of all, the presence of the ghost may be an attempt to satisfy the religious beliefs of both the Protestants and the Catholics, which both would have been watching the plays during Shakespeare’s time. However, the end of Hamlet basically kills off all the main characters, except one, who carries the story on. In summary, Hamlet and The Bacchae have various similarities and differences, which I hope I’ve shown in this paper. When Hamlet kills Polonius, it’s out of passion. In Hamlet, when someone dies, there’s usually a reason for it, while in The Bacchae, it’s simply because Dionysus wishes it so. Both plays end with the idea that the story should be told, either to keep Hamlet’s memory alive, or to prevent others from going against Dionysus. Another difference between the two plays is the character’s reasons for killing.
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