You might be forgiven for thinking there is no point in comparing texts. Isn’t there enough to say about Hamlet, without comparing it to other revenge tragedies, for example? And why on earth compare texts that are not only written hundreds of years apart but are also written in quite different forms — a play and a poem, for example?
Part of the answer lies in what a comparison can reveal about your understanding of contexts and genres and how they operate. When we look at texts that can be seen to examine similar themes (for example, power or love), and then investigate this further by taking different literary approaches to their contrasting social and political contexts, a much richer understanding of both texts and their possible dialogue emerges.
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