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Oedipus Rex And Hamlet: Which Character Showed Greater Resilience?

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Resilience in Oedipus Rex and Hamlet: Which character showed greater resilience? Which character showed greater resilience? Both characters face immense obstacles and tragic endings and though both display resilience, Hamlet’s later approach to his unfortunate situation shows that his resilience is greater than Oedipus’s. Although Hamlet is more resilient, both characters struggle with the ability to bounce back quickly from difficult situations, which is the thing that's needed to make one resilient. Resilient people have control over their emotions and don’t rely solely on fate. Unlike Oedipus, Hamlet doesn’t rely on fate and uses free will. At the start of the play, we see Hamlet grieving over his father’s death. However, he eventually …show more content…

Oedipus fails to overcome the fate that has been set out for him by the gods. Though the case was different for him, as unlike Hamlet, Oedipus really couldn’t have done anything to avoid his fate of killing his father and marrying his mother. He believed that his real parents were in Corinth and the best way to avoid his fate was to flee the city. Unfortunately for Oedipus, what he had not known was that he was adopted, and his real parents lived in Thebes, the city he fled to. It was nearly impossible for him to have avoided his fate. Oedipus struggles with the truth and his fatal flaw comes in when he is determined to find out who his real parents are and who he really is, despite everyone telling him to avoid finding out, as it may be too tragic to discover. Oedipus was not able to handle the truth upon learning what he had done. This causes him and those around him to fall into despair, including his wife and mother Jocasta, who commits suicide due to the prophecy. Oedipus blinds himself so he no longer has to look at the damage he has caused. This was foreshadowed earlier with Tiresias, a blind prophet, who tells Oedipus that though he has his eyes, he can not see in what misery he stands. “Since you have taunted me with blindness, that though you have your sight, you cannot see in what misery you stand” (Sophocles.) Blindness is a recurring theme in Oedipus Rex and an important one at that. This theme is metaphorical and

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