I am writing this essay to deal with the question how and why is Hamlet regarded as Shakespeare’s most compelling tragic hero. First of all, I am going to define a tragic hero. Afterwards, I would like to outline my opinion towards this question. According to Aristotle a hero of a tragedy must awake in the audience a feeling of pity or fear. Besides this, the hero must come from a princely family or from nobility. It is also important, that the character has many great characteristics so the audience evoke with the tragic hero. The hero starts with motivation and the story ends bad for the protagonist, most of the times it ends with their own death. All of these characteristics are fulfilled from Hamlet. The first character trait a tragic hero must fulfill is to awake a feeling of pity and fear in the audience. This happens at the point where Hamlet is thinking about suicide were he gets an interesting character (Act 1 Scene 2 p.23, 25). Furthermore, Hamlet is tough, grief world and upset with his mother’s love life with her new husband Claudius. He also feels betrayed when his mother marries his fathers brother so soon after his father’s death and he says “she married. O, most wicked speed, to post/ With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!”. This situation startles the audience because it is not a common one. In Hamlet’s eyes life is awful as well as being dead because we all die anyways and “[he is] ready; now or whensoever, provided [he] be so able as now”. (Act
“A man cannot become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall.” This quote articulated by famous Greek philosopher Aristotle provided the basis for another category of heroes: tragic heroes. Throughout literature’s history there have been various tragic heroes from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jay Gatsby in the novel The Great Gatsby to Oedipus Rex in Sophocles’ play Oedipus the King. William Shakespeare created tragic heroes in his plays as well, one of the most famous being Macbeth in the title play Macbeth. In another of Shakespeare’s plays, Hamlet, Prince Hamlet cries out, “To be, or not to be: that is the question:/” which appears similar to the question some readers still ask, “Is or is not Macbeth a tragic hero?” (INTEXTDOCUMENTATION).
According to A.C. Bradley, Shakespearean tragedy have the following elements “although a tragedy may have many characters, it is pre-eminently the story of one person or at most two. The story leads up to and included the death of the hero. The story depicts also the troubled part of the hero’s life which precede’s and leads up to his death. The hero is a conspicuous person, a person of high degree. The suffering and calamity are exceptional, of a striking kind.
Hamlet and the Hero’s journey Hamlet so much related to the Hero’s journey design which was adopted by Joseph Campbell’s monomyth journey and the two are in fact so inseparable. When analyzing the play Hamlet, one thinks that Campbell was using the plays so as to make the theory. This is a character arc and which is divided into five -act structure and which goes up to twelve steps. The ordinary world is the place where the character exists before he is called, and he is not aware of anything going on around him.
These are the two main examples that we find as we read the play that show he is an impulsive person. This paper shows how Romeo meets all of the criteria to be a tragic hero and this gives examples of how he is a tragic hero. So, in conclusion, Romeo is a tragic hero h=because he is impulsive, immature, and finally, he is emotionally driven. These characteristics eventually lead to his destruction making him a tragic
Firstly, it has to be an individual of a relatively high socio-economic status, they also have to be generally good and beloved. They have to be relatable to the intended audience and reflect the audience 's deepest fears and desires. Lastly, a tragic hero must possess a fatal flaw, a hamartia, which triggers their tragic fall from grace. The tragic hero is portrayed as both the hero and the victim, usually victimized by their own flaw as much as by their unfortunate circumstance. Both Hamlet and Julie exhibit all of these elements, whether by author 's intention or not as will be addressed further
Society defines a hero as someone of exceptional courage, strength, or outstanding achievements. According to A.C Bradley, a tragic hero is defined as someone of high class, who possesses a specific flaw that will eventually lead them to their demise. This idea of a character experiencing a tragic fate is represented through two different texts with similar protagonists. Author Scott F. Fitzgerald of “The Great Gatsby” demonstrates this rise and fall of the main character, Jay Gatsby. Similarly, author William Shakespeare presents his ideas of a tragic hero through the character Othello, in the play “Othello”.
Looking at the overall story, Hamlet would be considered more villainous than his uncle. Yes, it is true that Claudius is corrupt and killed his brother for the throne. However, he tried to do his best as king and you could also say that Hamlet is making it difficult to do so. Claudius and Gertrude attempt to console him for the loss of his father and yet hamlet rejects everything to proceed on the path of revenge. Hamlet tries to blame his sanity, but what he doesn’t even realize is that he has created on his own sanity.
The main character in every heroic play has illustrated a set goal, whether it is anti-heroism or hero. One of the famous novel, Robin hood, depict antagonist and protagonist based on personal perspective. For example, Robin hood presented as a hero to the poor for offering them food, but the negative side is stealing and breaking the law which separated him from the classic hero characteristic. Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, protagonist Hamlet, described as anti-heroic through his action considering that, self-critical and cynical. In contrast, Hamlet draws sympathy, as well as reverence, from the reader since Hamlet feels the pain of losing his father along with the burden and impediment in avenging his murder.
The essence of a tragic hero lies in their possession of a flaw that leads to their own downfall, despite evoking sympathy from the audience. Hamlet, the eponymous character in a Shakespearean tragedy, faces deep emotional turmoil and internal struggles, garnering the audience's solicitude. However, driven by a desire for revenge, he succumbs to his arrogant hamartia, resulting in unintended consequences and the demise of himself and those around him. Hamlet's arrogance is most evident in Act III Scene IV when he confronts his mother, Gertrude, and inadvertently kills Polonius. He criticizes and lectures Gertrude on her choices, particularly her marriage to Claudius, his uncle and his father's brother.
Tragic Hero Essay One can say that the actions of a hero do not go well with the actions of the misguided, but when the actions of the hero and the misguided come together, they form a tragic hero. In most of William Shakespeare's plays, there is a tragic hero; a person who possess a tragic flaw that eventually leads to his downfall. In the play, Julius Caesar, the tragic hero can easily be identified as Marcus Brutus. When analysing the play, one will find that Brutus is the only one who fits the characteristics of a tragic hero. These characteristics are his Noble Personality, his Tragic Flaw, and the pity we feel for his honourable death.
The character of Hamlet is expressed as a protagonist. His irritated attitude towards Claudius in scene 2 of act 1 leaves the audience with a clear first impression of his nature. He is deceitful of the king, his uncle Claudius who is now the ruler of Denmark after his brothers “death”, and disgusted of his mother marrying his uncle. Hamlet is an example of someone who has compromised his happiness, in order to avenge his father’s murder.
In William Shakespeare 's play Hamlet, the most heroic and brave character is young Hamlet. Despite the fact Hamlet is stranded amidst a court filled with dishonesty and misconduct and is confronted by the death of his father and his mom 's relatively quick marriage to his father 's brother, he is viewed as daring and bold in the minds of readers. For, it is his courageousness, fearlessness, determination and bravery that proves that Hamlet is not only a strong willed individual but also the most heroic character in the play. " But two months dead…my poor father’s body…why she married with my uncle, my father’s brother, but no more like my father…But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue" (
"Hamlet" is surely the most intricate, interesting and celebrated tragedy by Shakespeare, but why is it so famous? First of all, the author was able to involve multiple themes such as revenge, love, friendship, madness, life, death in a single tragedy which is full of symbolism, allegories and cryptic meanings that are slowly captured by the reader. Secondly, Shakespeare defined perfectly his characters; the reader can relate to them because they are more than names written on a sheet of paper: they are humans, they think, act, speak and feel like we do everyday. Hamlet's character is the perfect example of a teenager that has insecurities, doubts, fears, deep thoughts, hidden emotions and he also has to face obstacles just as we do today:
Plot is the most important factor within a play, it is the key element that allows an audience, actors, and playwrights to unite. “The plot, then, is the first principle, and, as it were, the soul of a tragedy; Character holds the second place,” said Aristotle in his book The Poetics. The plot then leads to action and action leads to tragedy; one could not exist without the other. Tragedy, therefore, is written into a play for the benefit of a character. The tragic hero is born when the Aristotle’s elements are put together within a play.
Through the entirety of the play “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare, the characters were overcome with the need for revenge as the outcome of many deaths. Therefore, no one was happy through “Hamlet” and it resulted in a tragedy. The character Hamlet played a big role in turning towards revenge and never would classify himself as being happy. Hamlet displays positive and negative behavior throughout the play. Hamlet exhibits strengths and weaknesses as well, although his weaknesses of over-thinking, bitterness, and his inability to accept the death of his father overshadow his strengths.