Hamlet vs Gladiator
Comparison Essay: Hamlet vs. Gladiator William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a tragic play where Prince Hamlet of Denmark wants to seek revenge for his father’s death that was murdered by his uncle and now his stepfather, as the murderer married his mother and King Hamlets’ wife named Claudius. Gladiator is a 2000 historical drama film directed by Ridley Scott where a loyal Roman general named Maximus Decimus Meridius is betrayed when the Emperor Marcus Aurellus’s son, Commodus murdered his father and seizes the throne. Between this play and the movie, they are quite similar within the character yet, there are differences as the character of the play and the movie, in terms of both dramas, various elements that makes them similar tragic figures. Within the theme of the story, the guilt in each character feels and their death makes them different from each other. First of all, both stories have the same theme that most of the readers knew and the theme would be Revenge. In the play, Hamlet didn’t find his true purpose when his father died. In one of the scene, Hamlet encountered a conversation to a ghost in which he believes that he is talking to his father telling him
“Thy knotted and combined locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand an end,
Like quills upon the fearful porpentine.
But this eternal blazon must not be
To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O list!” (1.5.24-28).
These lines explain that Hamlets’ father should seek a justice from his death and because of this, Hamlet swears to his father that he would seek for revenge and this takes the rest of the story finding a way on how to get the revenge that he needs to do. Meanwhile, in the movie Gladiator, Maximus Meridius is loyal Roman general to the Roman emperor named Marcus Aurellius. When Marcus was dying, he gave his throne to Maximus instead to his son in whom it led to his son to murderer Emperor Marcus to Commodus, the Emperor’s son ordered his soldiers to kill Maximus’ wife and son. A slave
“Thy knotted and combined locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand an end,
Like quills upon the fearful porpentine.
But this eternal blazon must not be
To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O list!” (1.5.24-28).
These lines explain that Hamlets’ father should seek a justice from his death and because of this, Hamlet swears to his father that he would seek for revenge and this takes the rest of the story finding a way on how to get the revenge that he needs to do. Meanwhile, in the movie Gladiator, Maximus Meridius is loyal Roman general to the Roman emperor named Marcus Aurellius. When Marcus was dying, he gave his throne to Maximus instead to his son in whom it led to his son to murderer Emperor Marcus to Commodus, the Emperor’s son ordered his soldiers to kill Maximus’ wife and son. A slave
Cited: Gladiator. Dir. Ridley Scott. Perf. David Franzoni, Branko Lustig and Douglas Wick. 2000. DVD. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. New York: Pocket, 1958. Print.