Comparrative Essay Hamlet and Othello

Ignatius Opoku

Teacher  

ENG 4U1

Date

Playwright William Shakespeare is said to be one of the finest writers in the history of English literature. Othello and Hamlet are just two of his brilliant works and the greatly supports this claim. Both plays are great examples of how the brilliant use of tragic events help to connect with the readers.

Shakespeare reveals to the audience two protagonists Hamlet and Othello who are both similar when comparing the way in which they handle their emotions. In the play “Hamlet” protagonist Hamlet, on many occasions doubts himself and is very much aware of his tragic flaws. He refers to himself as a coward and continuously questions himself, asking why he is unable to act and get his revenge when the opportunity shows itself. In the play “Othello “protagonist Othello has many insecurities because of this it makes him easily manipulated by others in throughout the story. The plot of “Othello” revolves around the manipulation which occurs between many characters in the play Othello is a major concept which causes the death of loved ones. In Hamlet, the goal of young Hamlet throughout the entire play was to avenge the death of his father, King Hamlet. Through these two books Shakespeare reveals to us many similarities in which these two characters possess, such as the way in which they control their anger and how it affects the women in their lives.  Although they may have the same qualities they have different tragic flaws by allowing their flaws to get the best of them the two handled situations much differently, because of this it makes the two different in how their fate ended.

Both Hamlet and Othello mistreat women. Hamlet uses mind games to abuse the women in his life and, after finding out that his father had been murdered and that his mother married his uncle who had not only just ascended his father’s throne, but was responsible for his death Hamlet was distraught. Quickly after the death of his father Hamlets mother the queen runs off to marry his uncle because of this he often expresses his disgust with his mother telling her "you have my father much offended" (act 3 scenes 4), and continually scolds her, telling her that she mocks the marriage she had with his father and attacks her in many ways later shuns her. Hamlet’s constant mistreatment of his mother makes her upset and regret her current marriage situation   ( ADD HOW HAMLET TREATS OPHELIA) . In the story “Othello” main character Othello is manipulated, tricked and controlled throughout the entire play by Iago a character in the play who was one of Othello's lieutenant and close advisers. Deceives Othello into believing that his wife is cheating on him with another one of his lieutenants, Othello a character who already shows that he is a man who is very insecure about his race being a black general in a white society he lets this negativity consume him as he becomes angry often stating that the reason for his wife’s infidelity is because he is a moor. Because of this he acts poorly towards the people around him especially his wife who he assumes is having an affair with another man. Othello begins to ignore his wife and when he does speak to her he does so in a disrespectful manner showing her that he has lost all respect her. When Othello asks his wife to fetch the handkerchief he gave her to express the love the two shared, and she couldn’t retrieve it because of this it assured what Iago had been telling him and its causing Othello to cry out "devil" (Act 4 scene 1) striking her in the face and at the end of the play killing her . Because hamlet and Othello's inability to control their anger and emotions revealed by their flaws it reflected on how they treated the women in their lives so badly.  

Another quality in which the two share is their want for revenge thinking it is the only way to settle their issues. After Hamlet discovers that his father was indeed murdered by his uncle; a jealous and selfish man who is now king, Hamlet became enraged and had wanted nothing more but to see his uncle  to suffer the same fate   his father have. He states in the play that for his uncle it is "Adieu, adieu remember me I have sworn, it" (act 1 scene 5 page 4) this quote is important because at that point you see that he has focused himself one goal which was to ensure that Claudius will suffer in the same way his father has. Similar to Hamlet once Othello is told that his wife had been cheating on him by one of his lieutenant Othello becomes jealous and angry, without trying to find out whether these rumors are correct he tells Iago “ within these three days let me hear thee say That Cassio’s not alive” ( act 3 scene 3 line 481-483) the importance of this quote is  that by furnishing a swift mean for his death Othello feels that that will handle the situation and make his problems go away. Because the two handle their anger in the same manner it makes their intentions obvious causing them to think of one solution death.