Comparing Hamlet And King Lear

Hamlet and King Lear both had themes of madness and this theme was very prominent throughout the story. In fact, this theme is what stood out to me the most. Some of the madness was natural while some may have seemed to be fake. Ophelia and King Lear represents what would be actual madness. Ophelia is a powerful figure in the play Hamlet as she speaks a certain way and carries herself in a certain manner. Ophelia never has any humor in her voice, nor does she ever joke throughout the play.
Lear gradually loses control of all things that represents his authority. Both of Lear’s daughters thinks that he raves and rants. He talks constantly about wise men being foolish and not being able to use their brains. Lear’s language is also key to his madness, his tone throughout the play shows just that. The madness that Lear possess is so intense that others around him are telling that he is mad. It is true what they say, when you are upset or at a low point in life, you lose sense of reality and believe what people will say.
Lear and Ophelia’s images are translucent, they do not have any feelings, their images can be a representation of a person going into madness or a person being completely free.
The madness that these two held, has the most truth, both in Hamlet and King Lear, revenge and justice are the subjects attempting to be accomplished. King Lear’s madness is more personal than that of Ophelia but she is more of a loner than King Lear as he has more people trying to help him throughout the play.
The biggest difference that I took away from both plays is, King Lear’s play shows more forgiveness and has more of a Christian attitude. Edgar forgives his father and Cordelia forgives Lear. Hamlet is more judgmental and the ending of play tells it all, when the entire royal family ends up perished. Almost all of the players in King Lear, repent before they die, which is the complete opposite of Hamlet as characters die without any representation of God or
repenting.
The similarities continue because they both are dealing with family dynamics, loyalty and betrayal. The difference is that “Hamlet” did not have any good when it came to its storyline and betrayal was prominent throughout. “King Lear” thought that his daughter did not love him because she refused to say anything to him, while his other two daughters claimed their love for him. All the while, the one who was devoted and loyal to him was the one he turned away. “King Lear” did disown his daughter but that did not last and that is a positive aspect of the story. In “Hamlet” it began bad and ended bad, there was no light in the story at all. Although both of these are dark tales and very gruesome, “King Lear” has some uplifting themes that show that it’s not about what someone says to you but what they show you. Actions speak louder than words and both of these stories show how much insanity plays a part of the royal families.