CHARACTER

In both Hamlet and Pride and Prejudice, there are two round-character protagonists; Hamlet himself, and Elizabeth. The two characters are in situations that illustrate big predicaments; in Hamlet, he is contemplating on how to seek revenge on his uncle, and in Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth is struggling to defy societal norms and figure out if she loves Mr. Darcy. The two texts differ, in that, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice uses indirect characterization to illustrate her characters, while Shakepeare's Hamlet uses direct characterization to depict each individual character. In one, we are told what to assume and think, while in the other, we make our own conclusions and judgments of the characters through raw and un-sugar-coated conversations. In Austen's novel, Elizabeth is the uninterested, different, and intellectual woman, while her family and her peers are more self-consumed and interested in town gossip. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, however, Hamlet is a mourning and obsessive prince who must take revenge on his guilty uncle.