Christa Wolf's 'Hamlet' intertextuality in Christa Wolf's 'Kassandra'

In the narrative Kassandra (1983) the East German writer Christa Wolf re-examinates the mythological figure of Cassandra. I argue that Wolf's reading of Kassandra can be seen as an adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet (1603). The two works show crucial similarities in plot and structure and particularly in the conception of the main characters. Both figures undergo similar processes of introspection which allow them to gain insight into the abuse of power and the difficulty of breaking this cycle. Through close readings, I demonstrate that Christa Wolf's narrative is an intriguing case of intertextuality which operates not with specific but with indirect markers. I then connect Kassandra to another famous interpretation of Hamlet the drama HAMLETMASCHINE (1979) by the East German author Heiner Muller, in order to show that the two authors use the Hamlet figure to reflect on the perception of history and the contemporary political events during the cold war. Due to their insight Kassandra and Hamlet understand that history repeats itself. In order to prevent a catastrophe like e.g. a war one needs to understand history as a concept shaped by power structures.