“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” wrote William Shakespeare (TN II.v.128-31). Greatness has been thrust upon Matt Morrison in Crow Lake, Paul in “The Rocking-Horse Winner” and Prince Hamlet in Hamlet; however, greatness in the eyes and minds of young characters is seen and thought as a burden, but for their moral good. There is more than one reason that sacrifices a child makes of loyalty to his\ her family can have long-term negative effects. The first reason to explore is Matt Morrison’s sacrifice of giving up his dream to go to university. Matt has many instances where he wants to forfeit his dream. The first is early in the text when Matt definitively plans to quit high school with the affirmation to Luke, “I’m not going to university.” (Lawson 123). It is evident that not only Matt, but his sister Kate noticed and commented on his poor decision. Kate could always see Matt’s error, exemplified in the passage, “He had wanted his chance so badly and deserved it so much, and through his own …show more content…
In act I scene v, Hamlet meets converses with the apparent ghost of his father. In this conversation, Hamlet sets his loyalty blindly to this otherworldly spirit with the line, “Haste me to know ’t, that I, with wings as swift / As meditation or the thoughts of love, / May sweep to my revenge.” (Ham. I.v.29-31). The instance when Hamlet begins to accumulate casualties is when he kills Polonius mistakenly thinking he has killed the Claudius (Ham. III.iv.21-39). Succeeding in avenging his father, Hamlet fulfills his goal, but his untimely death at the end of Act V brings the sacrifice of his life. In the process, Hamlet has unintentionally ended his mother’s and Laertes lives as well (Ham. V.ii.281-326). Sacrifice is never selfless as there is always a rippling effect of collateral