Hamlet and Chris McCandless prove themselves to be very similar in a variety of ways throughout the course of their respective journeys. Although these characters are clearly from different time periods and experience different challenges, they are still similar in many ways. The similarities that can be seen between these two characters can help us to see deeper into their personalities and how they may have acted how they did. Some examples of how Hamlet and Chris were similar include their issues with their parents, their uncertainty with their purpose in life, and how they both despised the actions of one of their parents. While they were not the exact same in every regard, the similarities between Hamlet and Chris reveals more about their intentions and actions. Hamlet and Chris both struggle with their parents and their expectations from their parents throughout the course of their respective journeys.
The similarities between Chris and Hamlet can be seen with their shared disdain for their parents. Although Hamlet seems to have looked up to his father before his death, it is clear that the actions of his mother was something that Hamlet resented. Hamlet’s problems with his mother stemmed from his mother moving on from his father only two months after his death to marry Claudius. He believes that this was immoral of his mother because she did not properly grieve her husband’s death and moved on very quickly. Even though Claudius is not Hamlet’s father, but rather his uncle and step-father, we can see that Hamlet despises his as a parental figure as well. Even before he finds out that Claudius murdered his father, Hamlet had a problem with him marrying his mother so soon after his father’s death. Hamlet’s fury towards his uncle understandably grew upon learning that Claudius was the one who murdered his father. From that point, Hamlet’s goal became to take revenge on his uncle for his actions. Chris McCandless also had problems with his parents that can be seen throughout the novel. The actions of his parents throughout his childhood ultimately led to Chris’s decision to take on the adventure that would ultimately lead to his death. His parents, especially his father, seemed to be very controlling of Chris from his perspective. There was a lot of pressure on Chris to go to college and take on a respectable profession. Chris grew to despise the ideas that his parents held about maintaining an upper middle class lifestyle. He did not like how they were very materialistic. It can be seen that Chris rebelled from the ideas his parents forced onto him as he got older. This can be seen when after he graduated from college with a double major in history and anthropology, instead of going to law school like his parents wanted, he donated the money his parents had saved for his law school and began his adventure across the county. It is clear throughout the novel that the actions Chris took throughout his journey were a direct result of his parents and how they tried to raise him. One example of this is how Chris would not accept gifts from others throughout his journey. This was a result of him not wanting other to buy his love like he believed his parents tried to do. Chris’s relationship with his parents clearly leads to his later actions that would ultimately lead to his death. Hamlet and Chris’s relationships with their parents are both strained throughout the courses of their respective stories. The actions of their parents and their resentment towards them led both of these characters to their downfall. The similarities between these two characters within this aspect is that they both overall tend to struggle with their parents and the impact they have on their life. They are different because Hamlet’s struggles with his parents revolve more around the ideas of revenge, distrust, and disloyalty that are common within his life and the lives of his parents. Chris is more concerned with the expectations that his parents have set of him to go to college and find a good career. Both of their parents want them to fit nicely into society even though they both live in very different societies with different expectations.
Hamlet and Chris also both shared ideas of their uncertainties of their purpose in life. Both of these characters question their purpose and the purpose of the world around them throughout the course of their respective journeys. Hamlet questions mortality and his purpose in his “To be or not to be” soliloquy. In this soliloquy, Hamlet wonders whether it is better to suffer or to die. Even though his religion would say it is better to suffer and not kill oneself, Hamlet questions this idea because of what he has experienced. In this soliloquy, Hamlet questions what life after death will be like. He argues that the idea of the afterlife and what our fate will be scares us and makes us want to not risk getting there sooner, even if we are suffering on earth. Hamlet’s ideas of mortality are a strong theme throughout the play. These ideas come into play more with the idea of Hamlet trying to seek revenge for his father’s death. Hamlet is unsure of whether to take revenge on Claudius or not. Hamlet knows that his father wants him to take revenge, but Hamlet is unsure if it is truly the right thing to do. He avoids taking his revenge for so long because he doesn’t want to kill Claudius if he isn’t guilty and he also wants Claudius to suffer the same fate of his father if he is. When Hamlet sees his father’s ghost, he learns that his father was unable to go to heaven and is in purgatory because he was unable to go to confession before his death. Upon learning that Claudius was actually the one to kill King Hamlet, Hamlet redirects his frustration of his father being sent to purgatory onto his uncle. He wants to get revenge on his uncle before he goes to confession so that his uncle can suffer the same fate that his father had to suffer. Hamlet’s ideas of mortality are an important part of his character because he is uncertain to whether life was worth suffering so that one did not have to face the uncertainties of the afterlife. Chris McCandless also had strong ideas about his purpose in life. Unlike his parents, Chris did not want to grow his wealth and live a traditional middle class lifestyle. He cared much more strongly about his freedom from his parents and giving back to others. Chris proved himself to be very against the standards that his parents had set for him. He wanted to find himself and discover what his true purpose was in life. Chris made it clear that he did not want to stay within the confines of society. In one of Chris’s diary entries he says,”Two years he walks the Earth. No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is the road”(page 163). Chris feels freedom from leaving society and living his life with minimal interference from others. He believes that being out alone on the road has given him clarity in his mind and that it is a much better way to live. Since he has been on the road, Chris no longer has to answer to anyone but himself, which is clearly something that is very freeing to him. Before he left on his journey, Chris was uncertain to what his purpose in life was. Although he may not still be sure, it is clear that Chris left his life to go on the road to find his purpose and to get away from society. Hamlet and Chris both question their life’s purpose throughout their respective journeys. They both feel pressure from their parents and want to break away from their expectations to find their own purpose. Both of them want to be free from their parents wishes for them and find what is going to make them happy. Their uncertainties for their life’s purpose shows how their parents ideas for them makes them question themselves.
Another similarity between Chris and Hamlet was that they both despised the actions of one of their parents. Hamlet was very upset with his mother for moving on so quickly after his father’s death. In his first soliloquy he says,”A little month, or ere those shoes were old/With which she followed my poor father’s body,”(1.2.151-152). Hamlet believes that his mother did not wait enough time by saying that she wore the same shoes to his father’s funeral as she did for her wedding with Claudius. He is angry at her for this because when he was alive, his mother used to show great admiration for his father and for her to move on so quickly makes her insincere. Hamlet sees his mother’s new attachment to her uncle as almost betraying his father. He believed that his mother was just trying to keep her status after King Hamlet died. Instead of simply becoming a widow she wanted to maintain her status even if it meant remarrying very quickly after her husband’s death. Hamlet was very against this because he believed that his mother should have stayed loyal to his father even after his death even if it meant giving up her status. He viewed her as very disrespectful and did not think that she deserves the title and status that she had. Chris also resented the actions of one of his parents. It is clear that Chris had a bad relationship with his father, which led him to take on the journey that would ultimately result in his death. Besides already having a strained relationship with his father during his childhood, tensions grew higher between Chris and his father when Chris learned more about his father’s ex-wife. Chris learned that when he was splitting his time between Chris’s mother and his ex-wife while not telling either of them. He was going behind both women’s backs and basically living a double life. Chris believed this to be immoral and disrespectful of his father to live this life. Chris clearly does not respect his father because of these actions that he took in the past. The information that Chris learns about his father adds to the preexisting tension that came from the pressure that his father but on him as he was growing up. The similarities between Hamlet and Chris in this context is that they both resented one of their parents for a specific action they had done. They also both disapproved of this action because it showed on of their parents being disloyal to the other one. Even though their relationship with their other parent may have not been the greatest, they both disapproved of the actions their parents took to not be completely loyal to their spouse from their point of view. The obvious difference between these two scenarios is that while Chris’s father was obviously being disloyal by living a double life, Hamlet’s mother was seen as disloyal for remarrying too quickly. The resentment of the actions of one of their parents shows that both of these character’s relationships with their parents led to them acting the way they did along their journey.
Chris and Hamlet were both greatly affected by their parents actions and expectations for them. Both of these characters had parents that had high expectations for them that would ultimately lead to them defying against their parents. They also both were very unsure about their purpose in life. This would cause them to both take on a journey to find their purpose and to make things right in their family and overall life. The actions of their parents also directly affected both of these characters because of how they both resented the actions of one of their parents that made them seem like they were disloyal to their spouse. The similarities of these two characters can help us to understand them both at a deeper level. Their similarities can also relate to the idea of life imitating art. Since Hamlet was a work of fiction by Shakesphere and Chris was a real person, we can see how this idea can be accurately portrayed. We will never truly be able to know if the similarities between Hamlet and Chris are accidental or if it is the universe bringing a work of art to life.
