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Macbeth And Hamlet Character Analysis

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Macbeth and Hamlet are two Shakespearean plays, both written as tragedies. With these being in the same genre, they have similar themes. The most prominent similar theme between these two works is appearance vs. reality. Another similar theme is ambition. Appearance vs. reality is when things appear different than they actually are. Ambition is the desire to complete or achieve something. These two themes show up in both Macbeth and Hamlet. The theme of ambition is not only similar, but it is also different in these two tragedies. It is similar in terms of the way their goals were achieved. It is different in the situation of royalty and the source of ambition. In Macbeth, Macbeth’s ambition is driven by three witches. In Hamlet, …show more content…

reality is another theme that is prominent in Macbeth and Hamlet. This theme means that things are not always how they really seem. In Macbeth, appearance vs. reality and ambition go hand-in-hand. As Macbeth is planning to kill Duncan, he is thinking of ways to deceive him. Macbeth invites the King to his house for what appears to be a nice dinner. In reality, this dinner is the staple of the plot to kill Duncan. The dinner is really used to get Duncan and his chamberlain’s drunk enough so they pass out and are easy to kill. At this dinner, Lady Macbeth is acting sweet and innocent when she is actually the one behind the plot of the slaughtering. After Duncan and the chamberlains are eradicated, Macbeth and his wife appear to be shocked when the heard the news when they are actually the people who killed …show more content…

reality are common themes in both of these tragedies. Ambition in each of this was seen in the separate character’s desires to become king. Their ambition also led them both the manslaughter. The only difference was the Macbeth’s ambition was driven by a supernatural force. Claudius’ ambition was self-driven. As for appearance vs. reality, this was very prominent in each play. In Hamlet and Macbeth, the use of holding special events is used to deceive people. These events always led to someone being assassinated in the end. However, in Hamlet, there was an event held that did not lead to someone being immediately killed, and that was the play. In all other instances, a character was almost instantly killed after the deceitful events were over. These plays are just two of many examples of literary works that both have similar themes incorporated into them. William Shakespeare used a variety of similar themes in Hamlet and Macbeth. Even though the same themes were used, the ways in which they appeared in the text were

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