med. 9

I could see a few similarities between Hamlet and Everyman, but not many. The first would have to be Death in Everyman and dead King Hamlet in Hamlet. Both come to the main character as a warning to prepare for a large undertaking. In Everyman it is to die, and in Hamlet it is to take revenge for his father’s death. Both protagonists are abandoned by almost everyone they encounter, the exceptions being Horatio and Good Deeds. Indecisiveness would also be a similarity between the two, with Hamlet not being able to decide whether he should kill Claudius or not, and Everyman putting off his death and not wanting to die alone. I think the closest comparison would be when Hamlet is giving the speech with Yorik’s skull, and Everyman is finally faced with death. Both come to terms with what they have to do and realized at that moment that death is very real and very frightening. Now that I really think about it, these two plays really do have a lot in common.