Flaws Of Hamlet Research Paper

According to Garth Stein, “The true hero is flawed. The true test of a champion is not whether he can triumph, but whether he can overcome obstacles.” Sadly, Prince Hamlet from the Shakespearean tragedy “Hamlet” was unable to overcome his flaw, causing his downfall at the end of the play. Hamlet's tragic flaw is procrastination, as seen by his inaction toward Ophelia, King Claudius, and Gertrude.
Hamlet said that he loved Ophelia, however, he never tried to do anything about it and procrastinate, instead of fighting for their love when she stopped talking to him. Hamlet openly states that he loved Ophelia not that he loves her or if they could get back together “I did love you once.”( 3.1, 125) However, he never stated it or tried to show

And because of this Hamlet and his mother’s relationship was destroyed due to hamlet not telling her what was going on and why he had been so cold with her. Which caused their trust in each other to decrease significantly. Hamlet could have confronted Gertrude and talked to her about what Claudius did and tried to show her that what she did was wrong, however, he does not do that until it is far too late. “A bloody deed-almost as bad, good mother, as kill and king and marry with his brother.”(3.4. 34-35.) He was trying to allude to what Claudius did but he never told her what happened and what he thought happened which caused a large amount of distress between the two and caused damage to their relationship in the long term. An argument could be made that he was waiting for the perfect chance to kill King Claudius and tell Gertrude, however, this is not the case. Hamlet never in the books tries to make an effort to kill Claudius, he only tried to kill him when it was handed to him with a silver platter for the second time. He was ecstatic when he thought that he killed Claudius instead of the Laertes, however when he had the chance moments before he chose not to take it. “On the simplest level, the delay is caused by the need to test the validity of the ghost's message and to determine Claudius's guilt. But the

The best example of procrastination being Hamlet's tragic flaw can be seen in his inaction of killing King Claudius and waiting for the perfect opportunity, which did not present itself until it was too late to matter. “Now might I do it now he is a-praying, And now I’ll do ‘t. That would be scanned: And so he does to heaven, A villain kills my father, and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven. (3.3. 79-83.) Hamlet walked in on Claudius praying that he had the perfect opportunity to kill him and avenge his father, however, he chose not to do that and instead waits for a better opportunity to present itself. Hamlet only acts when it is too late since he knew he was going to die when he killed Claudius. “Laertes tells Hamlet that he has only half an hour to live. On knowing this, irresolute Hamlet acts, he does not have any time now. He swiftly throws the poisoned rapier into the heart of Claudius and forces him to drink the remaining poison.” However, Claudius’s death is irrelevant now, as all of the main characters are dead and Hamlet completed his revenge at the cost of his own