A Comparison between Hamlet and The Wars
The writers of Hamlet and The Wars, William Shakespeare and Timothy Findley respectively, transform their main characters from the expected war hero or powerful prince into that of an antihero. William Shakespeare presents Hamlet as a prince bent on revenge but unwilling to do it. Timothy Findley, on the other hand, sends Robert Ross off to war in hopes that he will finally make something of himself. Hamlet is the prince of Denmark, a state around 700AD filled with death, destruction, and corruption. Robert Ross, the more modern character of the two entered World War I, "the war to end all wars", in 1915AD. Shakespeare writes of Hamlet in the form of a play while Timothy Findley writes about Robert Ross in the form of a novel. Shakespeare and Findley portray Robert Ross and Hamlet as antiheroes by showing that Robert and Hamlet make the reader feel sympathetic while they do not conforming to male traits such as courage and strength. The first characteristic of an antihero is that the main character makes the reader feel sympathetic to him or her. Shakespeare effectively pushes forth the idea that Hamlet is a victim of circumstance and by it the reader feels sympathetic for him. Before the play even begins, Hamlet's father dies
One last of characteristics needed to be an antihero, other than not being a hero, is that of a lack of strength. In particular, Hamlet comments on his own physical appearance when he says, "My father's brother, but no more like my father/ Than I to Hercules". With this comment, he obviously is not trying to imply that his uncle is the same as his father. Instead, he tells the audience in the monologue that his father and uncle are nothing alike. As one can tell from Hamlet's description, he is not a man of physical features. Not only does Hamlet lack strength in body, but also in mind. Shakespeare makes Hamlet out to be weak in mind as well as occasionally makes the reader wonder if Hamlet is insane. Robert Ross truly lacks strength as is shown with weapons. In general, weapons are the tools of a weak man. Since he would not be able to defeat his enemy in one-on-one combat and by linking back to Robert's lack of courage, Findley links the letter back home to that of his weakness. Robert writes his father to send him "bigger and better" guns because he does not want to appear similar to everyone else, he wants to be superior. Although the superior feeling resembles that of a hero, reaching such status with weapons is characteristic to that of an antihero. However, one so feeble
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Approximate Word count = 868
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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