Prince Hamlet from Hamlet by William Shakespeare and Ruthie from Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson both pursue agency which is the ability to act independently on his or her own principles. Their pursuit of agency is effected by many factors, an example would be social/class position or events which had transpired in the character's life. What the characters from both books did and reasons for they're actions will be examined and compared with ideas and perspective based on The Republic by the philosopher Plato. In Act 1, Scene 2, of the book Hamlet, Prince Hamlet was unhappy about the death of his father King Hamlet and how Prince Hamlet's mother Gertrude had married too early to Claudius. Horatio enters the scene and talks to Prince Hamlet then tells Prince Hamlet about the ghost which Horatio assumes was King Hamlet. During Act 1, Scene 5, Prince Hamlet …show more content…
This would relate to the quote “The just man does not compete with his like, but only his unlike, while the unjust man competes with both the like and unlike” (Plato, pg 93) Prince Hamlet would be the just man and he would be competing with the unjust man who is Claudius because Prince Hamlet thinks he is in the right here due to Claudius killing King Hamlet for his own greed and desire to obtain more power. The competition of just or unjust between Prince Hamlet and Claudius would be Prince Hamlet trying to take revenge on Claudius while being just and having the moral advantage over Claudius. Claudius would have to maintain and keep his current position and power which he obtain through unjust actions from Prince Hamlet by any means. However, as the play progresses up to the point where Prince Hamlet killed Polonius because Prince Hamlet thought Claudius was the one hidden behind the arras. At this point the idea of Prince