Stereotypes in Lead Roles Often times in literature, the most notable characters are the ones who do not fit into set stereotypes because of how it is seen as unfavorable to use commonly held ideas to compensate for a lack of creativity and originality. However, in some cases, using them can be one of the best choices to make as an author. By nature, stereotypes take the most common aspects in a person’s understanding and uses them to generalize people belonging to a group. These preconceived notions can then be used to play upon what people think of as one way and demonstrate that it is the other. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, characters are given common characteristics in order to play on expectations to demonstrate that being too extreme one
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Both men no longer have a father, and they seek revenge through putting their own interests above all others. Laertes has no qualms about condemning Claudius about the plot to kill Hamlet when he says, “The King, the King’s to blame” (281). Despite conspiring with Claudius, Laertes absolves himself of guilt, and he and Hamlet forgive each other in the interest of passing to the afterlife without animosity. Hamlet, too, seems to value himself at the expense of all the lives lost. He regards those who are not powerful during life as expendable. He mercilessly sentences Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, his childhood friends, to their deaths without too much weighing on his conscience. Ultimately, both Hamlet and Laertes are too preoccupied with their own interests that they forget their own country and those whose lives depend on the stability of the monarchy because they do not have a balance of characteristics that would lead to a clearer picture on how to act. After the final deaths, Horatio reminds the new king, Fortinbras, that these events must be seen in the wider scope when he says, “let this same be presently performed, [e]ven while men’s minds are wild, lest more mischance [o]n plots and errors happen” (287). Being too stereotypical led these two into the common path of being solely focused on revenge at
Both men no longer have a father, and they seek revenge through putting their own interests above all others. Laertes has no qualms about condemning Claudius about the plot to kill Hamlet when he says, “The King, the King’s to blame” (281). Despite conspiring with Claudius, Laertes absolves himself of guilt, and he and Hamlet forgive each other in the interest of passing to the afterlife without animosity. Hamlet, too, seems to value himself at the expense of all the lives lost. He regards those who are not powerful during life as expendable. He mercilessly sentences Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, his childhood friends, to their deaths without too much weighing on his conscience. Ultimately, both Hamlet and Laertes are too preoccupied with their own interests that they forget their own country and those whose lives depend on the stability of the monarchy because they do not have a balance of characteristics that would lead to a clearer picture on how to act. After the final deaths, Horatio reminds the new king, Fortinbras, that these events must be seen in the wider scope when he says, “let this same be presently performed, [e]ven while men’s minds are wild, lest more mischance [o]n plots and errors happen” (287). Being too stereotypical led these two into the common path of being solely focused on revenge at