Does Hamlet Have A Tragic Flaw? Essay, Research Paper

Does Hamlet Have A Tragic Flaw?

Question: Does Hamlet have a tragic flaw? If so, what is it and how does it

effect his surroundings and how does it effect Hamlet himself? What is the

outcome of his flaw?

Hamlet has a tragic flaw in his personality and behavior. His flaw is that he is

overly concerned with death and tragedy. This flaw or weakness in Hamlet leads

him into a world of chaotic surroundings and madness. Hamlet’s flaw and his mad

personality led to the death of several people, including his mother and the

King of Denmark! If Hamlet did not have this fascination with death and tragedy,

the deaths of the several people would not have occurred–including his own.

Hamlet did not always have this flaw in his personality. The flaw was presented

to him by a ghost. The ghost of Hamlet’s father told Hamlet that he was murdered

by Claudius and asked Hamlet to avenge his murder. This is where the flaw is

adopted by Hamlet and begins to effect his life. Hamlet begins to dig deeper and

deeper to find the truth. He puts on an act of madness to disguise his revenge.

Hamlet becomes so over-whelmed with death that death is all he thinks or cares

about. The death and deception burn into his heart like a hot branding iron to a

steer. Hamlet’s flaw is intact. Hamlet has a friend, Horatio, who knows of the

murder of Hamlet’s father. Hamlet could trust Horatio with his plans and

opinions. Horatio acted as an advisor to Hamlet, but he did not tell Hamlet that

he was heading in the wrong direction. Because of this Hamlet’s heart pounded

hard with the thought of revenge. The flaw was there and the stage was set for

tragedy. There was no way for Hamlet to change his destiny. “Haste me to know `t,

that I, with wings as swift As meditation or the thought of love May sweep to my

revenge.”

Hamlet’s surrounding are increasingly affected by his flaw. Hamlet begins to

forget all important obligations in his life and neglects his responsibilities,

causing other problems. One very important commitment Hamlet has which he lets

go is his relationship with Ophelia. Ophelia becomes very confused and hurt.

Hamlet hurts her in a couple of ways. First, he neglects her, and second, he

insults her. “Ha, ha! Are you honest??Are you fair??That if you be honest and

fair, your honesty should admit no discourse to your beauty. ?I loved you not?

Get thee to a nunnery.” Then Hamlet kills Polonius, Ophelia’s father, which in

turn makes her go mad and in her madness she commits suicide. Hamlet loses

objectivity. He does not respect the King nor his mother’s feelings. Hamlet

meets with his mother and insults her. He calls her a whore and a sinner for

marrying a murderer. Since he knows that the King is a murderer, he attempts to

expose him. Hamlet stages a play in which the players act out the scenes of King

Hamlet’s murder. This greatly upsets the new King and the King adopts some of

Hamlet’s obsessions with death and begins to think of a way to get rid of Hamlet.

All of the deaths in the play occur because of Hamlet’s actions and his

fascination with death. Ophelia dies because Hamlet kills Polonius. This drives

Ophelia mad and then she commits suicide. I think she saw the truth of the

treachery that was going on and thought that her death would be the better

course of action. The King plots to kill Hamlet in a duel between Laertes and

Hamlet. The tip of Laertes rapier was poisoned. He cuts Hamlet and then Hamlet

gets Laertes’ poisoned rapier and cuts Laertes. They both will die. Then Hamlet

was supposed to drink out of a poisoned glass of wine but doesn’t, so his mother

does and she dies. The truth comes out. Hamlet then goes and stabs the King and

pours poison down his throat. He dies. Then Hamlet and Laertes die from the

poison. Horatio is left standing alive. Hamlet’s actions have killed all the

nobility in Denmark.

If Hamlet did not have this fascination with death and tragedy, the deaths of

several people would not have occurred, including his own. If Hamlet did not

pursue his flaw and had chosen a different path, perhaps his life wouldn’t have

ended in tragedy. The theme of the play is tragedy leads to chaos and chaos

leads to death; and life cannot exist without the three. It is a cycle and

Hamlets’ flaw causes his cycle to become shortened. “O, I die, Horatio!”