A Comparison of Macbeth and Oedipus the King Essay -- compare contrast

A Comparison of Macbeth and Oedipus Rex The objective of this essay is to equality the Shakespearian disaster Macbeth to the Greek tragedy, Oedipus Rex. Although the plays sh ar similarities, it will be seen that the elapse of Macbeth is very different from that of Oedipus. Macbeths downf totally is due to his own mortalal decisions trance the fall of Oedipus is due to fate and the will of the gods. In Greek tragedy plot was always emphasized over component everyone wore overwhelms. These masks would seem to mask a persons character. This would make the character seem more than universal. The mask-wearing protagonist lacks psyche personality and character. This makes catharsis more relevant because the protagonist is not as single but more universal they could be anyone.Macbeth is an individual person he has no mask. This makes catharsis seem more irrelevant because Macbeth is more of on individual than Greek protagonists and therefore the audience doesnt feel that Macbeth is a representation of humanity and themselves. Instead they would set him apart as an individual person and therefore catharsis wouldnt apply as a great deal.Greek tragedies all feature some kind of religious aspect. The gods bring about the protagonists downfall in Oedipus Rex. Yet Shakespeares production of Macbeth is not religious. Macbeth isnt portrayed as organism religious in any way. However, Oedipus strongly believed in the Greek gods and they work out his fate as proclaimed by the oracle.The Greeks had no taste of the way that the world works compared to what we, or even Shakespeare, now know. Volcanos were blamed on the gods because the Greeks didnt know the cause.We now have scientific explanations for volcanoes... ...of the effect of catharsis. When I read Oedipus Rex I didnt feel purged of my fears of existence because I dont believe that our lives are controlled by the will of fate. Catharsis is more relevant to the Ancient Greeks than to us because of the differ ent belief system we have one good, caring, all-powerful immortal and they have many gods who dont really care about the humans that much. I think that Shakespeare hasnt tried to apply catharsis to his tragedy as much as the Ancient Greeks did to their tragedies because he doesnt make the characters as universal as the Greeks but he gives them individualism by removing the masks and giving each character a personality. Works CitedShakespeare, William. Macbeth. The Complete Works of Shakespeare. Ed. David Bevington. New York Longman, 1997.Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. New York capital of Delaware Publications, Inc., 1991.