Compare and Contrast Essay on Hamlet and Macbeth

Introduction

There are many similarities and many differences between William Shakespeare's Hamlet (and Macbeth) plays. Both plays are Shakespearean tragedies. They often feature supernatural incidents to grab the attention of the reader. These plays have many contrasting and comparative aspects.

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As with Macbeth's opening scene, Hamlet's opening scene involves a supernatural. The ghost of King Hamlet's father approaches Hamlet in the first scene. The opening scene of Macbeth also features the three witches. The witches are visible to anyone who approaches them, but Hamlet and Bernardo (Hamlet's servants) can only see the ghost of King Hamlet.

Similar to the plays, both main characters are a little suspicious of supernatural figures' powers. The witches use their powers to predict the future for Macbeth, while King Hamlet's ghost tells Hamlet what has already happened. Hamlet declares in one of his soliloquies, "The spirit I have seen/may be the devil." (2. 2. 598-599). Macbeth has doubts too, as he was told by the witches that he would be called Thane of Cawder. However, Macbeth did not know this, but many others had. It is possible that the witches knew. The same thing happened in both plays. Each character's downfall was caused by the introduction of the supernatural.

The three witches in Macbeth cause Macbeth to think and do wicked deeds. Hamlet would have been unaware that Claudius had killed his father if he hadn't seen his ghost. Both characters succumbed to the supernatural beliefs. They lost their lives. There are parallels between the plots of these plays and other characters. Both plays feature a main character who portrays the king of the country. Claudius, Hamlet's King of Denmark, is closely related to Hamlet. He is also Claudius' uncle and his mother's husband. King Duncan, Macbeth, the King of Scotland's main character, isn't actually related to him.

The main character in both plays does however kill the king to take the throne. This ultimately leads to their own death. In Hamlet, Horatio and Banquo share the same loyalty towards the main characters. Both stories show that these friends are more skeptical about the supernaturals than their main characters. Banquo challenged the witches to speak to him, "Speak to me, who neither fear nor beg / Your favors or your hatred" (1. 3. 60-61).

Horatio and Hamlet are witness to the ghost's appearance in a scene. Horatio attempts to stop Hamlet from following the ghost. Even though he was reluctant to accompany Marcellus in the first scene, he did so to learn about the ghost. There are some themes that are similar in both plays. Hamlet's weeds and flowers are like Macbeth's birds.

This holds true for both the fair and foul theme of Macbeth as well as the indirections theme from Hamlet. To the strange sisters of Macbeth, beauty is beautiful and ugly is beautiful. The play fair portrayals conceal foul realities. This theme is very similar to Hamlet's theme, where the appearance differs from reality.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Macbeth's main theme is Manhood. Hamlet, however, is focused on frailty and, more specifically, the frailty women. These tragedies have a similar storyline to Shakespeare. It seems that Hamlet and Macbeth have similar stories in many ways. These plays may seem very different due to their differing storylines, but they are actually very similar because of the parallel characters or themes.a