General introduction

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was an English poet and playwright. He was known as a greatest literary genius of the English language. He was excelled in both tragedy and comedy. In the course of a quarter century, Shakespeare wrote 38 plays and 154 sonnets.
Tragedy is a event always has a sad and unfortunate ending.
Hamlet and Macbeth are two the most wellknown tragedies that Shakespeare wrote during 1589 and 1613. Hamlet is the longest tragedy that Shakespeare created, and Macbeth is the shortest one.

Short summery of Hamlet and Macbeth

Hamlet

Hamlet is the Danish Price who mourns his father’s death, at the same time, his mother; Queen Gertrude marries to Claudius, King Hamlet’s brother. When Hamlet still involve into the pain of his father’s death, he meets the ghost of Hamlet’s father. The ghost told Hamlet that Claudius has poisoned him. Therefore, Hamlet swears revenge. He kills Polonius who eavesdrops when Hamlet expose his mother’s crimes. Then Polonius’s son Laertes goes back to Denmark to avenge his father’s death. Hamlet fells in love with Polonius’ daughter Ophelia, but his behaviors make her become mad. Ophelia dies by an accident. Then, a duel takes place, and ends with Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, and Hamlet’s death.

Macbeth

Macbeth and Banquo, victorious, also the servers of Duncan, King of Scotland,meet three witches who tell Macbeth that will become King in future. Lady Macbeth persuades her husband to kill Duncan to become King. Later, Macbeth orders the killer to murder Banquo, when he thinks Banquo may menace his position in the future. When Macbeth has a party in his castle, he sees the ghost of Banquo and become a raving lunatic, the others figure out that Macbeth is the murderer and then everyone leaves him. Lady Macbeth succumbs to madness and eventually dies. Macbeth goes to see the witches again for a prediction because he trusts what they say. At the end of the play, Macbeth is killed by Macduff, the new King of Scotland.

Setting

HAMLET

Setting: (Time) the late medieval period

(Place)Denmark

Atmosphere: melancholy, passionate, desperate, dark, ironic contemplative,

MACBETH

Setting :(Time) the eleventh century

(Place)Various locations in Scotland; also England

Atmosphere: Dark, ominous, passionate, sensitive, intense

Theme

Hamlet

1. Deception / Appearance and Reality
2. Melancholy, Madness and Sanity
3. Passion and Reason
4. Decay and Corruption
5. Revenge

Macbeth

1 ambition and treachery
2 fate and magic
3 deceptions
4 illusion and reality
5 power of woman

Characters

Characters

Main character and second most important character
Certainly, each of Shakespeare’s tragic protagonists is capable of both good and evil. Their downfall is caused by a character flaw or conflict with a higher power (the gods the law, fate or society)

Macbeth

The tragic flaw of Macbeth is that he wallows in ambition and that he truly believes what the witches say.

Macbeth - Thane of Cawdor, prophesized by witches that he will become the king. He kills King Duncan both his best friend for his ambition and betrayal. He dies in the end.

Lady Macbeth - Macbeth's wife; she urges him to kill King Duncan so that he will become the King. She later becomes mad and dies due to the stress of the crime.

Hamlet

The tragic flaw of Hamlet is his procrastination and that he is too scholarly.

Hamlet - Prince of Denmark: He madly follows the death of his father. He kill his lover’s father and his behaviors cause Ophelia to become mad and she dies in an accident. Eventually, he dies in a duel.

Ophelia - Daughter of Polonius and loves Hamlet. When she knows that Hamlet killed her father, Ophelia goes mad. She drowns herself in this state.

One pair is united in marriage; as for the other pair, they both are young lovers.

Characters(2)

Macbeth vs. Hamlet

Beginning
M: hesitate about the murder
H: swear to revenge
Middle
Both kill people
End
M: dies with hopeless of truth
H: dies with the successful revenge







Lady Macbeth vs Ophelia

They are both in love with a man who loves them dearly in return. Lady Macbeth is much stronger, more ruthless and more ambitious than Ophelia in the beginning. Ophelia is a figure who is easily heartbroken and lacks of courage. Eventually, they all die due to both weakness and madness.

Short conclusion

In comparing Hamlet to Macbeth, the tragic result of Hamlet is due to the weakness of human nature. Nevertheless, though the tragic result of Macbeth relies on the ambition of Macbeth and the evil instigation of Lady Macbeth, actually it reflects mostly the factor of fate. Macbeth ends in a tragic way due to the factor of fate, whereas Hamlet’s conclusion is a result of a subjective mistake. Macbeth is therefore comparable to an ancient Greek tragedy.