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Odyssey vs. Hamlet

John Jenkins

Abstract

The concepts of revenge and deception appear to be viewed as negative but necessary qualities in both Hamlet and the Odyssey. In Hamlet Shakespeare seems to be attempting to show people just how destructive revenge can be. In the Odyssey revenge seems to be viewed as an unfortunate but sometimes necessary part of life. Something that you occasionally have to do but should never take pleasure in. The Odyssey and Hamlet are two very similar books. The Odyssey is about a 10 year journey about Odysseus going through so many obstacle courses in his life. During all this everyone is affected by it, the wife, the town and most importantly his own son. His son had faith in his father regardless of what anyone had said about him. At one point Telemachus (Odysseus' son) thought he was dead. But they were soon reunited, and traveled home together. Hamlet in a way relates to the Odyssey, as some of us know Hamlet was about prince who loved his father very deeply and yet his father was taken away from him. He was murdered and his father came back in spirit and asked his son to avenge his father's death. These two books are similar because it's all about journey. Hamlet's journey was an emotional one and the Odyssey was a emotional and physical journey.

The Odyssey and Greeks

When you hear stories about the Greeks or from the Greeks the stories are always either a brutal battle and includes some type of god or hero fighting for its kingdom, family, or just fighting etc. A lot of the stories have some sort of lust or something involving sex. Their stories almost sound honorable in one way or another. For instance, the movie "300," based on the 300 Spartans who fought and stood up against an entire army and their god. If you listen to how the movies try to interpret the way the Greeks spoke and how the books of the Greeks, such as the "Odyssey," they speak in an unstructured type of way. But some of it actually does...