Is Hamlet A Hero Essay

Improved Essays
The Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet is named after the main character of the play - Prince Hamlet. Hamlet suggests us to think deeply about the meaning of conflict and its relation to heroism. There is an infinite amount of internal and external conflicts to ponder; it is obvious that Prince Hamlet clashes with almost every character in the book on his arduous way of investigating the righteousness. The most significant and interesting riot is the riot in Hamlet’s inner world. He has a potential to be a hero but there are some details in his nature that hold him back from actions.

The play starts with an inexplicable miracle - the ghost of King Hamlet visits the castle and complains that he is unable to rest in peace because he was killed by Claudius who is now the King of Denmark and married to King’s widow - Gertrude. Hamlet
…show more content…
Prince is not acting thoughtlessly; he questions the spirit’s trustworthiness because he does not want to be abused by the devil that this spirit might be representing. Finally Hamlet becomes confident in the ghost’s words and agrees to revenge. Hamlet's superb intelligence and logic compel him to think deeply about the best method to avenge his father's murder. Hamlet is very wily and witty: he convinces everyone that his behavior is caused by madness. We can also see that Hamlet is able to quickly assess a situation and cleverly figure a way out of it. Hence, once he realises that Claudius sent him to England to be murdered, he uses his extreme intelligence and knowledge and finds a way to come back to Denmark, leaving Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and arranging their death instead. He holds his father in high regard - “He was a man. Take him for all in all,/ I shall not look upon his like again" (1,2. 195-196). Though the Prince goes through numerous difficulties on his noble way of seeking the truth and justice, he achieves his goal of killing Claudius and honoring his beloved father, which shows his loyalty

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The tragedy begins with the death of Hamlet’s father, the former King of Denmark. Hamlet is drawn back…

    • 332 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most honoured and well known pieces of literature that has been studied by many. There is a depth to Hamlet which has caused so many different ways to view and argue the characters and the overthinking in which the book revolves around. The storyline of Hamlet follows a vein of over thinking that begins with the betrayal of his Uncle Claudius when he secretly murders Hamlet’s father – the King of Denmark- then marries Hamlet’s mother and becomes king himself. As Hamlet mourns the tragic death, he finds himself in front of his father’s ghost whom is speaking to him about his murder and how Claudius- his own brother; killed him. This is when Hamlet begins to see madness around him and reflects it in himself.…

    • 1075 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It all began on a dark winter nightfall, as a ghost strolls the walls of Elsinore Castle in Denmark. The ghost looks a lot like King Hamlet, in which his brother Claudius has taken the command and wedded the former king’s widow, Queen Gertrude. Whenever Horatio and the gatekeepers bring Prince Hamlet, the child of Gertrude and the dead lord, to see the phantom, it addresses him, pronouncing unfavorably that it is undoubtedly his father's soul, and that he was killed by none other than Claudius. Requesting Hamlet to look for vengeance on the man who seized his position of royalty and wedded his better half, the phantom vanishes with the sunrise. Prince Hamlet commits himself to avenging his father's demise, in light of the fact that he is insightful…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Ghost reveals to Hamlet that Claudius murdered King Hamlet. Out of obedience, Hamlet agrees to avenge his father’s death. Although Hamlet intends to follow the ghost’s orders, Hamlet gradually becomes strange and grows mad because of it. The primary goal throughout this play is for Hamlet to achieve revenge for his father’s death. However, based on his destructive behavior, this task causes his mental and moral state to wane.…

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A critical lens is a perspective that the reader uses to examine a piece of literature. Different lenses look for unique details and aspects in the text, and help the reader find new information that may have never been discovered had the piece only been read through one single perspective. The archetypal lens is a critical viewpoint which allows the reader to identify places in a story which follow or deviate from universal patterns, also known as archetypes. Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, is a character who, as before mentioned, both follows and deviates from the archetype of the Hero’s Journey.…

    • 860 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hamlet's Revenge

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Hamlet is not so sure his uncle really killed his father despite him appearing in a ghost manifestation and instead puts his uncle to the test by having traveling actors put on a play that involved what he thought to how Claudius murdered his father and if he reacts in upsetting manner than Hamlet shall kill him. Claudius does react and he races to the church to ask God for forgiveness and Hamlet is there to put a finishing blow when he decides that it would not be in his favor as God has forgiven him and justifies he would go to heaven so he allows him to live to sin again. At this moment in the play Hamlets supposed madness backfires on him and will lead to his grave, when the king orders hamlet to be taken to England, Hamlet goes and confronts…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Importance Of Heroism In Hamlet

    • 1151 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 1 Works Cited

    He frightens Ophelia, speaks in riddles to Polonius, and walks around the castle with no apparent purpose. His mother gets so worried that she sends for his friends to come. She hoped they could figure out what was wrong with him. Hamlet is putting on a good show to distract everyone from the real problem. Upon meeting his friends Hamlet makes them admit the true reason they have come to Denmark.…

    • 1151 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 1 Works Cited
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mystery Of Death In Hamlet

    • 1075 Words
    • 5 Pages

    “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” is believed to have been written between the year 1599 and 1601, and although the play actually takes place in the Middle Ages occasionally reference to the Elizabethan era are made. During this time plays revolving around revenge and tragedy were quite popular. It was not uncommon to see at the end of a play that all the major characters end up dead. In this particular revenge tragedy, Prince Hamlet is visited by his father’s ghost who tells him his uncle Claudius is responsible for his murder, who did it in order to become king and marry his mother. Hamlet becomes a sort of a madman trying to prove his uncles guilt before actually taking his revenge.…

    • 1075 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When the play begins, the audience learns that the old king of Denmark has been murdered by his brother, Claudius, who is now ruling over Denmark. Ever since the death of the old king, Hamlet, the son of the old king, has been very unhappy due to the death of his father and the remarriage of his mother. As Hamlet is mourning the death of his father, a ghost appears. The ghost tells Hamlet that he must kill King Claudius to avenge his father.…

    • 687 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This journey contains aspects including the hero’s call to adventure, crossing the threshold, and multiple trials. These factors, among others, are evident in William Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, Hamlet. Hamlet, the (Tragic) Hero, tries to avenge his father’s death, but his tragic flaw inhibits his endeavors. Thus, Hamlet is most accurately analyzed from an Archetypal lens revolving around the protagonist, Hamlet.…

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Annotated Bibliography Working Thesis: In the complex and intertwined themes of the revenge tragedy, Hamlet, William Shakespeare effectively expresses what it means to be human through Hamlet’s struggle to explore the human conditions of mortality, deception and morality, social expectations, and contemplation versus impulsive actions. MacNamara, Vincent. “The Human Condition.” The Call to be Human: Making Sense of Morality.…

    • 1170 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hamlet Essay In the book, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, there are lots of leads that Hamlet could be overreacting in a position in which his progress in the town will be troubled instantly. There are lots of situations where his over argumentative feeling, that triggers him to be insanely stupid person, but he is super focused and indeed unraveled a hustling truth about the two people who he trust. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, once work for his father, and turn to Hamlet to spy ordered by Claudius because they suspected that Hamlet killed Polonius. Claudius orders the two to continue to spy because Hamlet is a very dangerous person in the town.…

    • 726 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After discovering this, his father, came to him, as a ghost in spirit, and told him that he was actually murdered. Hamlet was next in line for the throne, after his father had died, but somehow Claudius, his uncle, was now the King. In attempt to get revenge for his father, Hamlet kills Polonius, but as consequence for that, King Claudius exiles Hamlet to England. Where King Claudius had already arranged for a fight between Ophelia’s Brother Laertes and Hamlet. Hamlet then told Horatio how he planned to overcome Claudius’s scheme to have him murdered…

    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Hamlet was quick to understand that he was entitled to avenge his father’s death. This shows that many are frequently influenced by the voice in our head that tells us to do something even when we know we should not. Although Hamlet was convinced he must retaliate against his father’s death, he insisted on gaining proof before killing Claudius due to Horatio’s belief that the ghost was an evil spirit, “Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason / and draw you into madness? Think of it” (1.4.76-77). Hamlet did not want the people of Denmark to believe that he was so evil to be plotting to kill his stepdad with his proof coming from a dead soul.…

    • 1216 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hamlet’s Morality William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet follows the story of Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, as he seeks revenge for the murder of his father. As Hamlet gets closer to avenging his father, he begins to lose the qualities that separate him from the man he hunts. Although Hamlet takes his morality and conscience seriously, his thirst for revenge consumes him, and he succumbs to wickedness through deceit and murder.…

    • 859 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays