Agamemnon vs Hamlet Essay

I think that Hamlet was more tragic in comparison to Agamemnon. The reason being is because in Hamlet Claudius is driven to kill his own brother, King Hamlet, just so he can marry his own sister-in-law. Hamlet is plotting to kill his own uncle and is speaks of his own mother in a hateful manner e:g Within a month, Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears Had left the flushing in her gallà ¨d eyes, She married. O most wicked speed, to post With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! A son is talking about her own mother like this and at the same time he has lost hope in life. Hamlet claims that he wants to die, if only suicide wasn’t forbidden by God. Oh, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter! So from the beginning of the play the protagonist is in a pitiful state. This was not the case with the protagonist of Agamemnon. In Hamlet the protagonist was driven to avenge his own father death and in the process ended up killing 4 innocent person. His own love of his live Ophelia, and mom, Queen Gertrude was killed by the poisonous drink which was meant for Hamlet. Ophelia’s father and brother ended up dead. In Agamemnon only two innocent lives were lost, Cassandra and Iphigenia. In my opinion i think Agamemnon deserved his tragic end. He had made many mistakes, he abused Clytemnestra then killed his husband and married her, then after sacrificed his own daughter. Aristotle definition of tragedy consist of 4 parts. It involves someone of higher standing. This protagonist makes an error in judgement. This error results in suffering for the person. This suffering causes pity or fear in the audience. Agamemnon and Hamlet both have high status. They are both from a royal family. Agamemnon makes and error in assuming that his wife is still in love with him and his trusts her, even though he was told by his people that his wife is cheating on him, but he didn’t get the implication. Resulting in his own end and Cassandra’s. In Hamlet, Hamlet makes a mistake by killing Polonius, assuming that he was striking the king with his sword. Which results in the king turning against Hamlet and sends and order to the king of England to execute Hamlet. I didn’t feel and pity for Agamemnon but on the other hand i felt pity and fear for Hamlet. I feared how he might not end up marring the love of his life Ophelia. I felt pity for Hamlet when his mother wont trust him when he was trying to expose his uncle.