Hamlet vs Cinderella (Essay Sample)

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Hamlet Vs Cinderella
The need for affection, love, family as well as healthy relationships is an aspect that can be linked or associated to almost every individual. In actual fact, it is quite hard to obtain a narrative or a film that is not drastically impacted or associated to human affiliations. This is one theme that can be perceived all through the plays Hamlet and Cinderella. This can be perceived through the relationship between Hamlet, his father King Hamlet, his mother Queen Gertrude and his uncle Claudius in the play Hamlet. Similarly, in Cinderella, the theme can be seen through the relationship between Cinderella, her father and her stepmother.
One particular factor that can be seen in both of the narratives is the notion of ideals. It is the perspective that the new will never compare to the old or the original (Bishop 34). In Hamlet, Queen Gertrude hastily gets remarried to Claudius once her husband passes away. The ideal that Hamlet had of his father stood very high and bright to the extent that no one else could match it and more so what ruins the ideal is deemed to be wrong (Cantor). In this case it is his mother Queen Gertrude. At one point in time, Gertrude sat on a high platform as the female companion of Hamlet’s father and was idealized as a “radiant angel”. However, when she opts to get married to Claudius she ceases being the ideal lady (Bishop 35). Hamlet together with the ghost of his father considers Gertrude to have stooped or fallen to the low level of Claudius as it is stated “The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen. O Hamlet, what a falling off was there!” (Ham.1.5.3). Hamlet feels betrayed for the reason that his mother barely showed any kind of regret or hesitation when getting married to Claudius. He goes on to state “O, most wicked speed to post/ with such dexterity to incestuous sheets!” (Ham.1.5.3). In Hamlet’s eyes, Claudius can in no way compare to his father. Not only is he furious with his mother for hastily marrying Claudius but also because he knew very well just how much his father loved his mother. For this reason he considers this new matrimony to be incestuous (Bishop 35).
This theme is also seen in the narrative of Cinderella. The aspect holds much resemblance to the feelings that Hamlet has for Claudius. Cinderella lost her mother when she was very young and found it very difficult to get over her demise as she was an ideal person to her. This becomes much harder by the actions of his father who married an evil stepmother (Philip 17). In as much as it was not her aunt who murdered her mother, this narrative is very similar to Hamlet for the reason that both Cinderella and Hamlet are not over and have not come to terms to the loss of one of their parents, who are people that they idealized. The characters of Rozencrantz and Guildenstern as much as they are friends with Hamlet can be likened to the two mean step sisters of Cinderella for the reason that they work for King Claudius in the same manner that the two sisters work for their mother so as to get to the feeble and frail side of Cinderella (Philip 22). More so, another similarity is that their statuses both change. For instance, Hamlet loses his status as the son of a King and Claudius treats him horribly. In the same instance, once her father marries the step mother, Cinderella is forced into subjection as she is made to work the whole day as well as night undertaking tedious chores and at the end of it all goes to sleep in a desolate and cold room that was handed to her.
Another comparison that can be made is that between Ophelia and Cinderella with regards to love and their happily ever after. Ophelia is in love with Hamlet and is a romantic character who believes in love. However, her father Claudius and Laertes insist that Hamlet is not worthy of her virginity as he would not make her his wife (Barber 58). However she does not have a happily ever after and in the end becomes mad out of the dilemma...