An Analysis Of Hamlet's Tragic Flaw

Hamlet’s Tragic Flaw

William Shakespeare is seen as one of the best play writers to this day. He was able to make tragedies and explain human emotion in a way that is still relevant today. Hamlet is a character that has humanity and is a strong character since he values human life. Unfortunately, this also leads to his indecisiveness and inability to act, which ultimately is his tragic flaw.

Hamlet first shows indecisiveness toward killing himself and can’t decide whether or not life is worth it. He spends so much time grieving over his father’s death instead of acting on his suicidal thoughts. Hamlet spends time deciding whether he wants to kill himself or take revenge and ultimately doesn’t act on either one of these choices since

Hamlet draws his sword and is so close to killing him right then and there. Hamlet talks himself out of and won’t take that leap and act. Hamlet excuses his behavior saying, “And now I’ll do’t. And so he goes to heaven; /And so am I revenged… /I, his sole son, do this same villain send /To heaven. /O, this is hire and salary, not revenge” (3.3). Hamlet makes excuses saying that if he kills Claudius while he is praying, then his soal will go to heaven and he doesn’t deserve that. The irony is that Claudius knows he isn’t going to heaven and if Hamlet killed him, he wouldn’t have gone to heaven. Claudius admits this saying, “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. /Words without thoughts never to heaven go” (3.3). Hamlet’s flaws are shown through other contrasting characters that always act and show no restraint like Hamlet does. One of these foil characters is Laertes who wants revenge for his father’s, Polonius, death. Laertes tells Claudius that he is so determined for revenge that, “To cut his throat I’ the church” (4.7), which directly contrasts Hamlet. Hamlet was not willing to act and cut Claudius’s throat in the church, but Laertes is so willing to kill him in the church if that’s what it

Hamlet is his biggest enemy and in the end, Claudius didn’t defeat Hamlet, he defeated himself. Claudius didn’t do anything special or out of the ordinary to kill Hamlet and yet, Hamlet unraveled himself. Hamlet could have killed Claudius when the ghost came to him and told him to but instead, warned Claudius that he knew by putting on the play. Then Claudius discovered Hamlet knew and that is what set Claudius off to start planning how to kill him. If Hamlet had just acted, Claudius would have died and gone to hell. Even if Hamlet killed Claudius after he got up from the play, Hamlet would have survived. William Shakespeare intentionally made Hamlet not willing to act in order to show how human he is. Hamlet grieves for his father and sees all the wrong in the play. Hamlet is scared of death, but also is very depressed in life. Hamlet values human life and chooses reason over acting out of impulses. Overall, Hamlet is a very real and relatable character and I am happy to have read the play. It was a very enjoyable experience even though it is a depressing