Euripides and Hamlet

Last semester I took Greek Mythology and I cannot help but see how the play “Electra” by Euripides mirrors the play “Hamlet.” Electra, daughter of Agamemnon (a Greek King), must avenge her father’s ruthless murder. The murderers of the king were his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover Aegisthus. They plot his death once he returns from fighting the Trojan War.

Electra is hell bent on avenging her father by killing both her mother and her mother’s lover. Her brother, Orestes, is slightly more hesitant about killing his mother, but at the insistence of his sister, he commits the crime. Which is indeed considered a crime by the gods and he is punished furies/harpies until he is judged by Athena. (This is what I remember from class, at least).

As I have frequently mentioned in class, I believe Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, was connected to the king’s murder—in some fashion at least. Euripides’ play has greatly influenced my perception. Especially since the ghost desperately calls for Claudius’ death, “Revenge [my] foul and most unnatural murder” (28); yet warns Hamlet to “taint not [your] mind, nor let [your] soul contrive / against [your] mother aught. Leave [your mother] to heaven” (30). I feel this is the key to Gertrude’s guilt. It his Hamlet’s father’s warning that even though his mother is guilty, it is not for a son to murder his mother (like Orestes) lest he be damned to be hunted and tormented by demons and spirits (like Orestes). 

http://www.haverford.edu/classics/images/clytemnestra1.jpg

Orestes killing his mother (pic).