First, he questions the blind prophet Tiresias, then he hears his wife Jocasta’s story of Laius’ murder, and finally has the courage to let a shepherd tell the true story of his origins.

He uses every chance of finding out the details that might lead to the answer and interrogates every possible witness to the case of Laius’ murder. In the compare and contrast essay on Oedipus Rex and Hamlet, it is necessary to mention that, on the way to discovering the truth, King Oedipus demonstrates remarkable persistence. In his speech to his brother-in-law Creon, the proud king voices the desire to find the murderer to secure not only the wellbeing of his state but his safety as a ruler as well. Since the Sphinx curse has been solved, Oedipus decides that it is time to settle the present troubles, “… I will start afresh and once again / Make dark things clear” (Sophocles 12). When he hears that the reason for the terrible plague epidemic in Thebes is the unfound murderer of the previous king Laius, Oedipus reasonably wonders at why the perpetrator has not been found yet. Oedipus Rexįrom the summary of the play, it is obvious that King Oedipus is a type of character who initially attracts by his desire to solve the problems of his state at any cost. Oedipus and Hamlet shall be compared in this essay. Shakespeare’s drama discloses Hamlet as a doubting philosopher whose search for truth destroys his inner balance and necessitates a change in his personality.

In Sophocles’ play, King Oedipus appears a persistent seeker of the truth who disregards the dangers this truth might bring to him. So, who is more resilient – Hamlet or Oedipus? They are the central figures of two famous classic tragedies: Sophocles’ Oedipus the King and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The present paper focuses on the Hamlet and Oedipus comparison – the two literary characters who seek the murderer of their father.

Oedipus the king by sophocles