Good Vs Evil Comparative Points English Literature Essay

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, has recently lost his father. His mother rather quickly has remarried, her late husbands brother. Hamlet is mourning the death of his father, yet mad that his mother already remarried. One night a ghost of his father appears. This ghost tells Hamlet that his father was murdered by non other than his mother new husband Claudius. Hamlet must make the decision to seek revenge for his father’s death, he struggles with decision throughout the play. Hamlets mother is poisoned at a duel that Claudius has set up between Hamlet and Laertes. Laertes informs Hamlet that the sword blade has been poisoned at the hand of Claudius. Hamlet takes Laertes sword, stabs Claudius and forced him to drink poison. At Hamlets request his best friend is to tell his story.

In Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe, Faustus is in a continuous battle with good and evil. Faustus goes to an all time low in order to get what he wants. He is faced with a good angel and a bad angel, causing him to make the moral decision on with one to follow. Due to his interest in the black arts, he chooses to follow that the evil angel and make a deal with devil. While Dr. Faustus seem to be a well rounded, well educated and a man who is respected in his community, he chooses to sell his soul to the devil for unlimited intelligence and power for twenty-four years. Through out the play Faustus is torn by his decision and fear that he is feeling for taking the offerings of the devil and that of retribution by god. In the end he repents and begs forgiveness, only it is to late, he is taken to hell.

Point 1: Moral Dilemma, deciding between good and evil

Both Hamlet and Fautus begin there roles in a the moral dilemma of making a decision of good vs. evil. Both plots have a supernatural aspect, Hamlet a ghost and Faustus angels. Faustus had been thinking a lot about practicing black magic; he struggles with making a decision between good/ moral and evil/black magic. He is visited an evil angel who persuades him to go ahead with black magic. Faustus contacts Mephistopheles, he is convinced that hell is a wonderful place. Mephistopheles goes a step farther and tries to warn Faustus that unlimited intelligence of black magic is not worth giving up heaven. “Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it. Think’st thou that I saw the face of God and tasted the eternal joys of heaven, am not tormented with ten thousand hells in being deprived of everlasting bliss?” (Marlowe, 1905, Act 1, Scene 5). While Faustus does not heed the warning and only sees the power that he will have.

Both Hamlet and Faustus start out good well-rounded individuals. Everything changes for Hamlet when he returns from college; only hear about the death of his father. Like any of us would be, he was completely grief stricken. Hamlet like, Faustus is visited by a supernatural being. Hamlet is visited by what we are lead to believe is the ghost of his father. This ghost urges Hamlet to avenge his father’s death; through out the play Hamlet contemplates killing Claudius. Hamlet starts losing touch with reality, he begins to think that maybe he should die himself or murder Claudius. “To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end. The heartache and the thousand natural shocks. That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come. When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause: there’s the respect. That makes calamity of so long life”(Shakespeare, 1909, Act 3, Scene 1). By the end of the play Hamlet is set on revenge, and has become evil. Both Hamlet and Faustus both allow evil to take control of their lives.

Point 2: Evil controls

Both Faustus and Hamlet are faced with decisions that will affect the rest of their lives. Both of them choose to take the same route and turn evil. Evil takes complete control of both Faustus and Hamlet. While Faustus leads me to believe, that he understands what he is doing is wrong. While hamlet knows his thinking of killing Claudius is wrong, while Hamlet had a chance earlier to kill Claudius, he does not. At the end Hamlet Says; “O villany! Ho! let the door be lock’d, “Treachery! Seek it out. (Shakespeare, Act 5, Scene 3) and kills Claudius. Faustus thinks several times about repenting. He has second thoughts, after an old man said, “Ah stay, good Faustus, stay thy desperate steps! I see an angel hovers o`er thy head, And, with a vial full of precious grace, Offers to pour the same into thy soul: Then call for mercy, and avoid despair”(Marlowe, 1905, Act 5, Scene 1). Yet he still does not repent.

Point 3: Influences of evil

Both Faustus and Hamlet start out essentially good people with good values. Influences that have taken place by people; spirits and events have changed both Faustus and Hamlet. Faustus seems to be good until his desire for power and knowledge cause him to turn evil. He is advised both a good and bad angel, yet he is more drawn to the bad angel. Only because of what the bad angel has to offer him, Power, sex and money. He must decide, “How am I glutted with conceit of this! Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please, Resolve me of all ambiguities, Perform what desperate enterprise I will?” (Marlowe, 1905, Scene 1, Act 1). The good angel as well as an old man try, to convince Faustus, to repent and turn him back good. But the influences of the evil angel, feed his greed, until it’s to late.

Hamlet seems to be good and sane in the beginning. After speaking to the ghost that claims to be that of his father, Hamlet’s sanity starts slipping away. “If thou hast any sound, or use of voice, Speak to me” (Shakespeare, 1909, Act 1, Scene 1). From this moment on Hamlet is obsessed with thinking about committing murder to revenge his father’s death. Hamlet is so influenced by the ramblings of the ghost, because he believes that it is the ghost of his father.

Conclusion

In comparing these two plays, both are faced with making very important decision between good and evil. Both have second thoughts about the decisions being made. Faustus must figure out with angel to follow, while Hamlet chooses whether to listen to the ghost. Fautus started out good and was influenced by the two angels that came to him. In the end he choose to be evil. He sold his soul to feed his greed. In the end he chooses not to repent out of fear that he would be sent to hell anyway. Hamlet also starts out good but was influenced by the sequence of events and the ghost to turn evil. Hamlet was faced with the decision of avenging his father’s death. In the end Hamlet gets his revenge, but he killed and hurt others along the way. Hamlet gets his revenge on Claudius, yet he is killed by his pursuit for revenge. Both Doctor Faustus and Hamlet start out good and are over come by evil. It has always been told that good always triumphs over evil, however that is not the case in these two plays.