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Hamlet and The Bacchae have many similarities and differences, in this paper,
I will discuss some of them, as well as the questions posed in class. Both of
these plays are tragedies, ending with a great number of the featured characters
dying, or meeting another terrible fate. First of all, I don’t think that Hamlet
took place in a godless universe. Of course, the god in Hamlet, vs. the gods in
The Bacchae are very different gods. In Hamlet, God affects the decisions the
characters make (e.g., Hamlet decides not to kill Claudius while he’s praying,
because he believes God will forgive Claudius for his sins, and not send him to
hell), however he doesn’t have a direct role. You have no proof of a god in
Hamlet, while in The Bacchae, the gods are the main characters in the play,
performing a good percentage of the action. Also, the presence of the ghost
means that in the world of Hamlet, there is an afterlife, but since there are
not more ghosts in the world, there must be some divine presence, affecting why
the ghost is there. Continuing with the issue of the ghost, the presence of the
ghost in the play has many implications. First of all, the presence of the ghost
may be an attempt to satisfy the religious beliefs of both the Protestants and
the Catholics, which both would have been watching the plays during
Shakespeare’s time. The Protestants do not believe in purgatory, so the ghost
may be a way to explain the afterlife, without offending either religion. The
ghost also creates some confusion with heaven and hell, because if the soul is
in a ghost, then it means that it went neither to heaven, nor hell. Yet,
throughout the play, the characters often talk of both heaven and hell, and the
presence of the ghost doesn’t change their belief in any way. Another
significant difference between the two plays, is the role of revenge, and how it
varies between god’s revenge (in the Bacchae) and man’s revenge (in Hamlet).
Hamlet’s revenge tended to have logic, and was fairer to those that weren’t the
point of his revenge. However, in The Bacchae, Dionysus shows very little logic,
simply punishing on his own whim. In some cases, Dionysus took out his revenge
on people that he had no dispute with. He was simply in a bad mood, so his
revenge was also taken out on them. Hamlet’s revenge showed a lot more reason
and organization to it, as opposed to Dionysus’s, who had no reasons for quite a
few of his actions. Another difference between the two plays is the character’s
reasons for killing. Dionysus obviously kills out of passion, sometimes simply
because he’s bored, or in a bad mood. Hamlet does have reasons, although there
are cases in which Hamlet kills out of passion. When Hamlet kills Polonius, it’s
out of passion. He’s in a hurry to kill Claudius, and in his rage, kills
Polonius instead. However, when he actually does kill Claudius at the end, it’s
not really out of pure passion. It’s much more a planned, logical murder. In
summary, Hamlet and The Bacchae have various similarities and differences, which
I hope I’ve shown in this paper. Neither Hamlet, nor The Bacchae ends in a
pleasant way, which is characteristic of a tragedy. However, the end of Hamlet
basically kills off all the main characters, except one, who carries the story
on. The Bacchae ends with those whom Dionysus thinks should be punished, are
punished. Those who have done him no wrong, are not affected. Both plays end
with the idea that the story should be told, either to keep Hamlet’s memory
alive, or to prevent others from going against Dionysus. In Hamlet, when someone
dies, there’s usually a reason for it, while in The Bacchae, it’s simply because
Dionysus wishes it so.
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