Hamlet and Faust as Tragic Pro

All great literature, throughout time, has attempted to explain the true human condition. It has attempted to show why man has always questioned his purpose. In doing so, many writers also have portrayed man’s quest for heavenly knowledge. Hamlet, in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and Faust, in Goethe’s Faust, exemplify this type of tragic protagonist. Both of these characters ask the same questions and search for the same answers in life; however, they both …

…does not understand the remorseful nature of Gretchen’s denial of help. Here, Faust begins to question why he has fraternized with Mephisto. Both Hamlet and Faust show great literary merit in their portrayal of the endless human quest for knowledge. They show how each author, Shakespeare and Goethe, interpret life’s questions of the reason for existence. Both works, however, seem to illustrate the same point—some questions in life can never be answered.