Hamlet As A Tragic Hero
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Hamlet as a Tragic Hero
The idea of a tragic hero was first spoken of by Aristotle in his concepts of tragedies. The concept of a tragic hero having a fatal flaw was developed by Aristotle. Aristotle thought that every tragic hero had some kind of a fatal weakness that brought about a bad or fatal ending to the tragic hero. The idea of the tragic flaw is that the tragic hero has a downfall that comes from his own very nature (Aristotle 1362). With the guidelines set by Aristotle, one can determine whether a character is a tragic hero or not. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Shakespeare uses the main character Hamlet as a tragic hero. Shakespeare takes Aristotle’s idea of having a major downfall, when Shakespeare creates the character of Hamlet.
In Shakespeare’s tragic play, “Hamlet,” there is the central idea that Hamlet is unable to avenge his father’s
death. Maurice Baundin adds that “… it has been assumed that the Ghost’s message and Hamlet’s sole object is to kill Claudius (Baundin 185). Hamlet, Prince of Denmark could be considered a play about an indecisive man who has trouble taking action. What could be said to be Hamlet’s tragic downfall is his indecisiveness which ultimately leads to his death. There are many aspects that could have caused Hamlet’s indecisive or delayed actions. These aspects include Hamlet putting too much thought and analysis into his plans, his melancholy, his Oedipus complex, his doubt about the honesty of the ghost, and Hamlet’s doubts about his own ambitious motives.
The first reason that Hamlet might have had indecisive or delayed reasons about gaining revenge on his father’s death was that he put too much thought and analysis into his ideas. In Act II Scene 2, Hamlet, Rosencratz, and Guildstern are all carrying on a conversation. During the conversation, Hamlet talks about how he feels that “there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” Later on in Act III Scene 1 Hamlet says,
“Thus conscience does make cowards of us all:
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment,
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action… (Shakespeare
1653.III.i.84-89)”
In this quote, Hamlet is describing to Ophelia how cowards are made on the thoughts of those who are actionless. The last place in which the idea that Hamlet placed too much thought and analysis on aspects was in Act IV Scene 4. In this scene, Hamlet discusses his thoughts of why he is inactive. Hamlet states, “Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple, Of thinking too precisely on th’ event (Shakespeare 1684. IV. iv. 41-42).” Hamlet gives a different reason why he feels that he is unable to avenge his father’s death.
Another reason why Hamlet might have postponed avenging his father’s death is that he is very melancholy. Throughout the play, Hamlet is mourning the death of his father and cannot get it out of his mind. In one of Hamlet’s many monologues, he states, “Out of my weakness and
my melancholy, As he is very potent with such spirits
(Shakespeare 1651. II. ii. 529-530). Throughout the play and during the conversations between Hamlet and King Claudius, Claudius tells Hamlet that he must stop mourning.
Claudius describes Hamlet as “obstinate condolement” and “unmanly.” Hamlet’s melancholy state does not allow him
to act on his feelings of avenging his father’s death.
The next idea of why Hamlet had trouble avenging his father’s death was the Oedipus complex. The Oedipus complex refers to the Greek myth of when Oedipus killed his father. The same complex applies to Hamlet because Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, remarried Claudius. After King Hamlet’s death King Claudius becomes his father. Richard A. Levine states that, “Hamlet becomes the Oedipus-like hero who has painfully but triumphantly come to see the supremacy of forces greater than himself (Levine 539).” If Hamlet was to kill King Claudius, it would supposedly lead to the death of his mother, Gertrude, according to the beliefs of the Oedipus complex.
An additional aspect of the indecisiveness or delay of Hamlet to avenge father’s death is that Hamlet has doubts about the honesty of the Ghost. In Hamlet’s monologue
during the second act, he speaks of uncertainty about the ghost. Hamlet states, “The spirit that I have seen, May be the devil, and the devil hath power,” (Shakespeare 1651. II. ii. 526-527). The uncertainty that Hamlet speaks of is one of the reasons in which he is overdue in avenging his father’s death. According to Joseph T. McCullen, “Hamlet has proved the testimony of the ghost and now has ample evidence of the King’s guilt (McCullen 25).” Mr. McCullen’s statement proves that Hamlet had uncertainty in the Ghost and therefore he had to prove what the ghost had told him. Because Hamlet had to prove that the ghost was real, his tasks to kill Claudius and gain revenge were delayed. It takes him most of the play before he believes in the ghost.
The final reason that Hamlet is belated in his quest to seek revenge on Claudius for his father’s death was because he had doubts about his own ambitious motives. For example, in act III Hamlet tells Ophelia that,
“I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had not borne me: I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offenses at my beck than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them
shape, or time to act them in (Shakespeare 1654. III.
i. 120-123.”
In this quote, Hamlet explains how he wishes he had not been born because of his characteristics that include pride, revenge,