The Tragic Hero In William Shakespeare's Play

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William Shakespeare is renowned for his extraordinary works in the tragedies he has composed. A Shakespearean tragedy is so well distinguishable from other writings that someone with little knowledge of his work could easily recognize it. Shakespeare’s signature is his use of the tragic hero: A person of nobility with several redeeming qualities that inevitably meets his or her own destruction due to a judgment error or character flaw. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, the tragic hero in “The Tragedy of Hamlet” exemplifies his tragic flaw through three main scenes; The play within a play, Claudius in prayer, and his escape from death in England which within each surfaces his inability to act and avenge his father’s murder and ultimately leads to his …show more content…
Hamlet demonstrates unsureness in the promise he has made to avenge his father’s death. Murder is a drastic and permanent action that cannot be undone and the good-hearted Hamlet has difficulties bringing himself to commit the act. He avoids his objective by questioning the legitimacy of the Ghost’s story. Hamlet curses himself for his inactivity. “Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave, That I, the son of a dear father murdered, Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words And fall a cursing like a very drab, A scullion!" (Act II, Scene II). After this act of self-loathing, Hamlet becomes motivated to set up a play that mimics the ghost’s story of his father’s murder. Hamlet’s decision to put on a play is an indication that he needs confirmation that his father was indeed killed by Claudius before he can proceed with his objective. Hamlet wants to observe Claudius while he’s faced with the representation of the crime that he committed to climb to the throne. During the play, Claudius’ reaction to the scene where a king is poisoned in the …show more content…
Hamlet finds Claudius praying in a manner that is so helpless, his eyes are closed, his back is turned, his knees are on the ground, yet at this perfect moment to fulfill his objective, he fails. Hamlet overthinks the situation and justifies his inaction with the belief that Claudius will surely enter heaven if he dies in prayer. Oddly, this act of murder would work in his uncle 's favor and against avenging the death of his father. This means that Hamlet ponders excessively of life after death and the repercussions of our actions here on Earth. This leads me to believe that Hamlet suffers from an inability to act because he focuses too heavily on the consequences of his actions. His vow to exact revenge on his uncle for murdering and dethroning his father takes a backseat. He is not present in the moment and rather operates somewhat like an existential thinker. In fact, he is currently experiencing an existential

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