Preview

Hamlet; Tragic Hero

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
3634 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Hamlet; Tragic Hero
Argumentative/Persuasive Essay

Hamlet; The Tragic Hero

In many plays there is always one person that is the tragic hero. They always possess some type of tragic flaw that in turn leads to their tragic deaths. In the Shakespearean play Hamlet the main character Hamlet is considered to be a tragic hero. By carefully analyzing the Shakespearean play Hamlet one can debate whether the main character Hamlet is a tragic hero. Although it is debatable whether or not Hamlet is a tragic hero, one would still agree that he is in fact a tragic hero. Despite what others may believe, there is more evidence to prove that Hamlet is a tragic hero as he displays the flaws of a tragic hero. Hamlet is a very indecisive man who likes to procrastinate a lot. Also, Hamlet is a rash man who does not think before acting. As well, Hamlet is also a misogynist man who seems to have a strong dislike for women. A tragic hero is a literary character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy. Indecisive is characterized by indecision, as persons; irresolute; undecided. Rash means characterized by or showing too great haste or lack of consideration: rash promises. Misogynist means hatred, dislike, or mistrust of women. In the Shakespearean play Hamlet the main character Hamlet is considered to be a tragic hero because of his indecisiveness. Hamlet is a very indecisive man who is unable to react quickly to situations and tends to procrastinate very much. Hamlet’s indecisiveness is one of his biggest flaws throughout the play. Hamlet can never seem to make up his mind and this really affects him throughout the play. Hamlet’s father, King Hamlet, is

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Best Essays

    Freudian critics have located Hamlet’s motivation in the psychodynamic triad of the father-mother-son relationship. According to this view, Hamlet is disturbed and eventually deranged by his Oedipal jealousy of the uncle who has done what, Freud claimed, all sons long to do themselves. Other critics have taken the more conventional tack of identifying as Hamlet’s tragic flaw the lack of courage or moral resolution. In this view, Hamlet’s indecision is a sign of moral ambivalence that he overcomes too late.…

    • 1773 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the play, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, is that a tragedy played about complicated protagonist; hamlet who is involved in the misfortune death of his father. Hamlet throughout the play pretends to be insane; hence, Hamlet acted to achieve his ambition of killing his father's assassin. Moreover, Hamlet shows his desires and feelings towards the unjustified death of his father and unfaithfulness of his mother by marrying her late husband’s brother. Therefore, Hamlet’s soliloquy, “now I am alone. O, what a rogue and peasant slave am,” portrayed him as a coward because he feels he has done nothing to take revenge on his uncle. Throughout the play, hamlet’s persona, broke down into an emotional roller coaster while he equivocates on avenge…

    • 244 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of Hamlet's most renowned traits is his over-analysis of conversational topics and situations in which action must be taken. This is a major flaw in his character. In Hamlet's speech in act three, scene three he reveals himself to be an over-analytical man when he is about to kill Claudius,…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hamlet is about Prince Hamlet’s misperceptions that women are morally Corrupt. Hamlet’s misperceptions originate from Gertrude’s inappropriate behavior and ignorance and Ophelia’s malleable behavior, and throughout the play Hamlet is rude and cynical to the two main female characters. Hamlet makes a sweeping generalization based on his Mother Gertrude and Ophelia that all women are morally corrupt, and in doing so he demonstrates a lack of trust in Gertrude that contributes to his madness and leads him to more trouble.…

    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hamlet Flaws

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The character in a tragedy will always have a big downfall. It is sometimes causes by the any setting of the historical background, family background, or any tragic flaws of the character. In The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, the protagonist, Hamlet, although is a very smart, philosophical, enthusiastic, and manic person, but he is also indecisive, inflammatory, high key, and arrogant person. All these flaws contribute a hard life to him through out the play and they also lead him to his own destruction at the end of the play.…

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A tragic hero is a character within a story whose defined characteristics precipitate the downfall of the plot. By Aristotle’s definition, a tragic hero is one who possesses a characteristic flaw, leading to his wrong actions, careless personality, and realizes his mistake towards the end of the story. In William Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet he creates the story of two lovers from brawling families who wish to be with one another more than on side with their families. It can be argued that Shakespeare’s original intention of the play was to create a tragedy resulting from the actions of a tragic hero, which brings the death of the two lovers in the end. Romeo is an example of the classic tragic hero, exhibiting one’s many characteristics.…

    • 1157 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hamlet's Tragic Flaws

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages

    A tragic flaw is the failing of a tragic hero, a character who suffers a downfall through the tragic flaw in mistaken choices or in personality. Hamlet’s tragic flaw, his incapacity to act to take revenge for his father’s death. Which leads to him and many others including; his queen gertrude, Polonius, Laertes and Ophelia, to their deaths. When the Ghost, his dead father, appears to him and charges him with the effortful task of taking revenge for his most foul murder, Hamlet is motivated to accept the challenge even though he fears to.…

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Arthur Miller notes that, “The tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing—his sense of personal dignity” (1). This characteristic seen in most tragedies is definitely evident in the character of Prince Hamlet in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. The moment that Hamlet learns from the ghost that Claudius has committed regicide, his goal becomes clear: he has to avenge the death of his father by murdering his uncle. Hamlet could not stand idly by while the assassin of his saintly father had an affair with his mother Gertrude and lied to the people of Denmark. However, Hamlet’s tragic flaw prevents him from taking action quickly. During the course of the play, the prince notes that he has yet to perform any action against his uncle Claudius, and he wonders why this is. The character of Hamlet is prone to reasoning and long soliloquies, not action; this, in my opinion, is his tragic flaw.…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Is Hamlet A Tragic Hero

    • 288 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Hamlet is a tragic hero in the true sense of terrible event because he died trying to complete his goal of avenging his father. He is a tragic hero who asked Horatio to let his story be known of how he saved Claudius but, in the process, lost everything he loved, including his own life on one level people might not believe completely he is a tragic hero because he did not die at the hands of Claudius. Instead, he died at the hands of Laertes through Claudius's dishonest actions. Hamlet might have been a more tragic hero if he had died at the hands of Claudius while fulfilling his prophecy to avenge his father's death. Hamlet flaws did not discourage him to give up and he accomplish his end goal which makes him a tragic hero. King Oedipus is…

    • 288 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hamlet As A Tragic Hero

    • 380 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the play Hamlet, written by Shakespeare, the main character Hamlet is often described as a hero. There are 6 criterion for a Shakespeare play to be considered a tragedy; the hero is a man of outstanding quality, the hero has a tragic flaw, the hero’s downfall is a result of his own choice, the audience has a “sad sense of wasted human potential”, the hero has an increase in awareness and a gain in self knowledge, and the audience experiences a cycle of good and bad emotions towards mankind. Hamlet is a great example of a tragic hero, one of his greatest attributes is also his biggest downfall.…

    • 380 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hamlet Flaws

    • 966 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Throughout Shakespeare’s career as a playwright, he has written about many complex and well thought characters who actually have something they want to say and how the characters’ view life. None however, as interesting as Hamlet from the play Hamlet. The character of Hamlet is interesting because although he was born from status, he does not have all the power. Hamlet is also well aware of his flaws and his flaws are not that obvious to the audience. The most engaging scenes are the ones where Hamlet is alone speaking truths about his thoughts on suicide and humanity itself.…

    • 966 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Some will say Hamlet is just a regular man who becomes corrupted and evil throughout the play. Hamlet comes off as a villain. He acts to fate in a way a normal, non-heroic character would act. The emotions that he shows are much more intense than physical appearance. With heavy emotions Hamlet takes on the thoughts of suicide, which most people would say is a hero less act. If we look at the play once more, the actions he took were not just for him; he did it for a man he loved, his father. Can we not say that he suffered much more than he should have to bring justice? Hamlet is a selfless…

    • 1258 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Why Hamlet Is a Hero

    • 1484 Words
    • 6 Pages

    A literary hero is someone who displays feats of nobility along with courage. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, young Hamlet is obviously the hero of the play. Stranded in the middle of a court full of corruption, faced with his father’s death and his mother’s almost immediate remarriage, Hamlet somehow comes out of it a hero in the reader’s minds. It is his courageousness and nobility that lead him through his revenge, virtually unscathed by the corruption of the court.…

    • 1484 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many people proclaim Hamlet a hero, but I believe he stands as a coward who questions himself. Hamlet’s intellectual ability is superior to others, but there lies his weakness. His thinking in certain situations and personal needs characterize Hamlet as a coward of mind, not action. Hamlet is a coward because he is unable to make decisions.…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Hamlet's Tragic flaw

    • 1574 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Although Hamlet is characterized as brave, loyal, and intelligent, he is actually overwhelmed by his own conscience and that leads to him overthinking. The reason behind why Hamlet overthinks is because I believe he cannot balance reason (rational) and passion (irrational) at all. When he is rational he thinks and thinks until he ends up not doing anything about the problem. When he uses passion he commits unnecessary crimes or choices, like killing Polonius. When Hamlet felt he needed to see Claudius’s reaction to his play to truly know it was him who murdered his father, all this did was delay the inevitable. Hamlet, continuing his procrastination, has numerous times he could have gotten his vengeance, but…

    • 1574 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays

Related Topics