The Tragedy Of Hamlet- Essay, Research Paper

The Tragedy of Hamlet-

Arguably the best piece of writing ever done by

William Shakespeare, Hamlet the is the classic example of a

tragedy. In all tragedies the hero suffers, and usually

dies at the end. Othello stabs himself, Romeo and Juliet

commit suicide, Brutis falls on his sword, and like them

Hamlet dies by getting cut with a poison tipped sword. But

that is not all that is needed to consider a play a tragedy,

and sometimes a hero doesn’t even need to die. Making

Not every play in which a Hero dies is considered a

tragedy. There are more elements needed to label a play

one. Probably the most important element is an amount of

free will. In every tragedy, the characters must displays

some. If every action is controlled by a hero’s destiny,

then the hero’s death can’t be avoided, and in a tragedy the

sad part is that it could. Hamlet’s death could have been

avoided many times. Hamlet had many opportunities to kill

Claudius, but did not take advantage of them. He also had

the option of making his claim public, but instead he chose

not too. A tragic hero doesn’t need to be good. For

example, MacBeth was evil, yet he was a tragic hero, because

he had free will. He also had only one flaw, and that was

pride. He had many good traits such as bravery, but his

one bad trait made him evil. Also a tragic hero doesn’t

have to die. While in all Shakespearean tragedies, the hero

dies, in others he may live but suffer “Moral Destruction”.

In Oedipus Rex, the proud yet morally blind king plucks

out his eyes, and has to spend his remaining days as a

wandering, sightless beggar, guided at every painful

step by his daughter, Antigone. A misconception about

tragedies is that nothing good comes out of them, but it is

actually the opposite. In Romeo and Juliet, although both

die, they end the feud between the Capulets and the

Montegues. Also, Romeo and Juliet can be together in

heaven. In Hamlet, although Hamlet dies, it is almost for

the best. How could he have any pleasure during the rest of

his life, with his parents and Ophelia dead. Also, although

Hamlet dies, he is able to kill Claudius and get rid of the

evil ruling the throne.

Every tragic play must have a tragic hero. The

tragic hero must possess many good traits, as well as one

flaw, which eventually leads to his downfall. A tragic hero

must be brave and noble. In Othello, Othello had one fatal

flaw, he was too great. Othello was too brave, too noble,

and especially too proud to allow himself to be led back to

Venice in chains. A tragic hero must not back down from his

position. He also has to have free will, in order to stand

up for what he believes in. Finally, the audience must have

some sympathy for the tragic hero. In MacBeth, although

MacBeth commits many murders, one almost feels sorry for him

and his fate.

Hamlet is the perfect example of the tragic hero.

Hamlet has all the good traits needed to be a tragic hero.

He is brave and daring. One example of this is that when he

went to England, he was taking a big risk. If his plan

didn’t work, he would have been executed He also is also

loyal. His loyalty to his father, was the reason he was so

angry at Claudius and his Mother. Another trait was that he

was intelligent. He was able to think up the idea of faking

insanity, in order to get more information about Claudius.

But Hamlet like all other tragic hero’s had a flaw. He

couldn’t get around to doing anything, because he couldn’t

move on. He was a full grown adult, yet he still attended

school in England, because he couldn’t move on. Also, it

took him a long time to stop grieving about his father,

because he didn’t want to move past that part of his life.

And after he finally did, Hamlet couldn’t get around to

killing Claudius. He kept pretending he was insane even

after he was sure that Claudius killed his father. The

final example of Hamlet’s inability to get around to do

anything was that he was dating Ophelia for a long time, but

never got around to marrying her. The audience was able to

feel sympathy for Hamlet too. He had just lost his father,

and his mother remarried so quickly that according to him

they could have used the leftover food from the funeral in

the wedding reception. Also, the audience could feel that

Hamlet loved his parents and this sudden change was hurting

him.

In any tragedy there is a tragic hero, and he must

possess certain characteristics in order to be one. He must

have many good traits such as loyalty and bravery, but one

bad one such as pride. Also the audience must have sympathy

for the hero. A tragic hero also must have free will or his

fate would be decided for him, and his death could be

avoided. Finally, the audience must have sympathy for the

tragic hero, or it wouldn’t seem so tragic. Hamlet is a

perfect example of a tragic hero. He was brave, loyal, and

intelligent, but he couldn’t move on past one thing, which

led to his death. He had a choice of how he would deal with

Claudius, and like other tragic hero’s made a decision.

Also, the audience was able to feel sympathy for the

position Hamlet was in. These attributes made Hamlet the

perfect example of a tragic hero.