Posted by Louiegirl at gw1.mcgraw-hill.com on December 10, 2003 at 14:43:13:
In Reply to: OT: i'm gonna get flamed for this, but... posted by andy the flea on December 10, 2003 at 13:46:30:
I asked a girl in the office. She gave me this:
"I haven’t read Oedipus since high school, but I’ll give it a stab. I don’t remember much about the actual personalities of the characters in Oedipus, so I can only give a few similarities/differences between the two plays that come to mind…
I guess the most obvious would be to compare Oedipus and Hamlet. Both are called upon to avenge the deaths of their fathers (although Oedipus doesn’t know that the murdered man is his father until the end of the play.) Both receive this mandate from supernatural sources – Hamlet from his dad’s ghost (kind of freaks him out) and Oedipus from the oracle of the god Apollo (doesn’t freak him out because incoherent messages from gods delivered via drugged-up Sybils are the norm.) One difference is that Oedipus is the murderer as well as the avenger. Both go kind of crazy, but Hamlet dies whereas Oedipus indulges in self mutilation and banishment.
Another possibly good comparison would be of Gertrude and Jocasta. Both participate in an incestuous marriage with the murderer of their husbands.
Then there is the comparison of Oedipus and Claudius. Both are murderers, both are incestuous, both are kings. Of course, I don’t remember for certain, but I believe Oedipus was considerably more agreeable than Claudius."
Hope this helps.