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Hamlet's Flaws

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Recommended: Character analysis of Hamlet

Tragedies have a significant effect on audiences due to its relevant complexes that occur every day through different situations. Throughout the course of a tragedy audience build a relationship with the tragic hero whose exceptional nature excites them and forces them to question his situation and flaws. In the Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet, Hamlet’s catastrophic environment ignites his tragic flaws and ultimately leads to his demise. Hamlet succeeds in overcoming his hamartia through his death which allows him to maintain his legacy and avenge his father’s death. The famed poet T.S Elliot suggests in his essay “Hamlet and his problems”, that Hamlet faces disastrous conditions that exemplify the main complex within the play. These conditions …show more content…

Hamlet’s power is mainly through his intelligent word choice and his philosophical thinking: “The body is with the king, but the king is not with the body. The king is a thing/ . . . / of nothing” (4.2.27-30). Hamlet is extremely intelligent that he clearly reveals his intentions in front of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern without them even noticing. Hamlet begins his riddle by declaring the authority of a king among the chain of beings. He then states that the current king is worthless and that the concept of a king transcends the boundaries of only one man. Finally, he reveals his intentions of murdering Claudius as he implies that the current king will be worthless once he satisfies his desire for vengeance. In addition, Hamlet’s crave for revenge gives the play its tragic nature, Hamlet attempting to avenge his father’s death remains a noble cause: “I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records/ . . . /And thy commandment all alone shall live” (1.5.100-103). Hamlet displays his obedience as he accepts his father’s orders. He wins the audience’s sympathy as his noble cause justifies his means in order to avenge his father. Hamlet is not necessarily a “good” person; however, the audience prefers to consider him a good person who is trying to bring justice to his father’s murder but in the process his environment causes him to become a different person. As a matter of fact, the audience’s admiration and sympathy for Hamlet view his flaws as completely insignificant in comparison to his noble qualities. A.C Bradley explains this relationship between the audience and a tragic hero as he argues, “The tragic hero with Shakespeare, then, need not be 'good,' . . . it is necessary that he should have so much of greatness that in his error and fall we may be vividly conscious of

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Turning now to the absurd world of the two plays. To begin with, Hamlet finds himself in a world of actors where no one is who they seem. Claudius is playing the role of the king though his betrayal would suggest he is not meant to be king. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are playing the role of Hamlet 's friends while secretly working for Claudius. Even fair Ophelia, who Hamlet thought honest deceives him in Act 3 scene 1.

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The main character of William Shakespeare’s tragedy is actually a confused person that’s stuck between two choices. Some may argue that he feels guilty for his father’s death and so it’s his duty to avenge it. While others may disagree and conclude that he is just a maniac who is both violent and dangerous. Hamlet passes through the lane of hesitancy, where he hesitates to kill King Claudius. As a matter of fact, the main conflict of Hamlet is that he feels both the need to solve the crime and punish the responsible.

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Like many things, Hamlet is intelligent and honorable, but his indecisiveness is the cause of his tragic downfall. In the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare portrays that Hamlet is very incapable of finishing the task at hand. Throughout the drama Hamlet faces many trials and tribulations due to his late father Hamlet, who was murderously killed by Claudius. His inability to kill Claudius and himself is one grand flaw of an epic hero. After King Hamlets passing, Hamlet entered an unknown state of mind that not only feared others for his wellbeing, but also feared himself.

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There is a direct link between self respect and an individual's response to injustice. When someone treats us poorly, we might feel the need to fight back because of our self respect, but if we don't we’re letting people control and take advantage of us. It's about proving our self worth and equality amongst our peers. In the novel “Hamlet”, Shakespeare has created this man Hamlet who's father the king has been slain by his uncle Claudius, who is now wed to his mother Gertrude. Before all of this happened hamlets life was perfect, he was going to school and had a lovely girlfriend, heir to the throne.

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Hamlet’s intelligence is shown when he does not blindly listen to what the ghost said “Hamlet is aware of the unreliability of otherworldly apparitions and consequently reluctant to heed the ghost’s injunction to perform an action that to him seems objectively evil.” [Foster 2], and instead makes his own plan to see if Claudius is truly guilty of murder because. Hamlet plans to “...have these players / Play something like the murder of my father / Before mine uncle. I’ll observe his looks” [Shakespeare II, ii, 596-598], and see how his uncle reacts to the play , which is like the murder of King Hamlet because “Hamlet believes that he must have greater certitude of Claudius’s guilt if he is to take action.” [Foster 2] he does not rush into anything without analyzing the facts that he has, and checking to see if they are true.

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Over Thinking and Its Effects On Society Everyone has flaws and flaws are great to have as it increases diversity, but sometimes flaws some flaws can lead to destruction. In the story of Macbeth the tragic flaw of unchecked ambition that created a monstrous Macbeth and multiple murders of innocent people, leading to Macbeth’s unruly power and greed. While in the story of Hamlet the tragic flaw of overthinking and Hamlet’s procrastination resulted in a domino effect of unnecessary deaths because he was unable to think quickly and follow through with his plan. The flaw of over thinking and inaction results in a world where no one can accomplish what needs to be done and our world can no longer progress at a faster rate.

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Suffering: Hamlet Hamlet, the tragic hero fits well into the instrument of suffering. The spreading of his suffering was due to his personal anguish. Within Hamlet there were many things that had caused his suffering, some of these reasons were due to his own personal plan for vengeance. Hamlet faced immense amounts of suffering within the play; his father had been murdered, his thrown had been stolen, and his mother was in an incestuous relationship with his father’s brother, who was the reason behind all of Hamlets suffering.

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Many characters show signs of intelligence throughout William Shakespeare’s Hamlet as they conjure plans to achieve their goals. However, Hamlet’s intelligence is far superior to that of all the other characters. He is capable of altering the kingdom’s perception of him to his advantage by adjusting his behaviours. The schemes he devises outsmart everyone and leave him to appear innocent. Most importantly, Hamlet miraculously escapes his own death and instead brings an end to those involved in his execution.

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Firstly, Hamlet is a play of a man by the name of Hamlet, whose father was murdered by Claudius, his uncle. Claudius murdered the king by pouring poison in his ear to claim the throne for himself. Hamlet is then told by a ghost to murder Claudius for revenge, and he struggles within himself for the length of play whether to do it or not. When Hamlet begins to hesitate it does more damage than good and causes a chain reaction of tragic events, and makes the readers question whether Hamlet is truly sane or not. Claudius’s corruptness begins to show when he uses his authority to order those around him to rid of Hamlet.

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The personality of such characters as Hamlet from William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is much remarked upon. However, it is even more meaningful to analyze changes in Hamlet’s character throughout the play. As Hamlet becomes more driven in his revenge, his actions lose morality and gain consequences. In fact, Shakespeare uses the relationship between a character’s cruelty and the meaning in the pain they cause to comment on the cyclically destructive nature of cruelty.

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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" (

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The quote, "We admire Hamlet as much for his weaknesses as for his strengths", aptly describes my feelings towards this troubled young prince. It is simply impossible to characterise Hamlet as good or bad, strong or weak. It is my aim to show the depth of Hamlet 's personality and to explain to the best of my ability the traits which make him who he is. Hamlet is the neither the hero nor the villain of his story- he is simply a victim, a young man slowly losing his grip on sanity over the course of the play.

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To be or not to be morally ambiguous is to have the lack of coherence in making moral life decisions. In Shakespeare's play Hamlet, the main character Hamlet goes through a great transformation. Hamlet seeks revenge toward Claudius who he believes killed his father for the throne. In many of Shakespeare’s play there is always a hero and a villain, but in Hamlet, Hamlet plays a pivotal role because he can be viewed as both the hero and the villain. Hamlet is seen as a morally ambiguous character due to the decisions he makes throughout the plot of the novel that ends up leading him to his demise.

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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.

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Due to himself being too idealistic and restrained, he does not take decisive actions even after using the planned play to test the Claudius's conscience that could possibly expose himself and left himself in unfavorable circumstances. Hamlet’s inability to act is caused by his overanalysis of the situations that further render him from not carrying out actions in response. If Hamlet is not indecisive, he would not be uncertain about the evidence regarding to his uncle’s crime, he would not be delaying his revenge, he would not be having emotional breakdowns and become a tragic figure. Hamlet’s personality ‘borns’ and develops under his royal position and the growing

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