Comparison between Hamlet and Oblomov

Scientific Essay from the year 2017 in the subject Literature - Comparative Literature, language: English, abstract: The aim of this research paper is to explore, by comparing and contrasting them, the two literary characters Hamlet and Oblomov and how they are exploited by William Shakespeare and Ivan Goncharov in different historical ages to project different visions of the human situation. Every author is influenced by his age to certain degrees and if the art of characterisation of William Shakespeare is set against that of Ivan Goncharov, it is because of the difference in ideological perspectives. William Shakespeares character Hamlet comes from Renaissance England and Ivan Goncharovs character Oblomov comes from nineteenth century Russia. The former is in certain ways different from the latter despite the fact that some traits of both characters are the same, such as indecision and procrastination. The comparison and contrast will be highlighted in this paper in terms of Marxist hermeneutics, which is a scientific theory and method of analysing the social and literary types in the context of class milieu. Applying Marxist literary hermeneutics to the art of characterisation of both the authors, the present study tries to introduce new portrait and reevaluation of the personages of the two literary types in an innovative perspective.