Vincent Kim
Dr. Churchill
ELA 40S
February 23, 2018
Hamlet Essay
The classical tragic hero can be defined through examples in Aristotle’s Greek tragedies, mainly Oedipus in the Oedipus Rex Complex. Aristotle outlines the predominant elements of a classical tragic hero: The character must be multifaceted along with their hamartia, hubris, and catharsis. Tragic heroes in Senecan tragedies - otherwise, known as Shakespearean tragedies - such as Hamlet in the play of Hamlet, mutually hold a number of elements with the Aristotelian elements of a tragic hero. However, Shakespeare does not seem to follow the classic baseline completely; Shakespeare’s Hamlet is, rather, more complex than the simplicity of Oedipus. The main similarities and differences …show more content…
The recognition of truth is ultimately the climax in Greek tragedy and the event is made relatively obvious for the audience to comprehend feasibly. Oedipus, in this case, recognizes the truth subsequent to the shepherd and the Messenger’s words, and Jocasta realizes before he does. Due to Oedipus’ recognition of the truth from the prophecies, he goes into shock - the climax - and leads to his isolation from the community. However, in Hamlet, the audience is never sure if the Ghost was clearly the fallen King or just an evil spirit. As a result, even at the end of the play, the debate of whether the revenge was the right decision or not continues. To compare, “Oedipus is the unwitting fashioner of his own doom which is unveiled to him through recognition and repentance” (Dr. Churchill) and the tragic hero of Hamlet is not himself the source of the pollution of regicide, but it is his over-contemplativeness and the influencing confusion of other characters in the play that leads to his downfall. Through thorough examination of the character, Hamlet, of Senecan tragedy versus Oedipus of Greek tragedy, Shakespeare has inevitably altered some of Aristotle’s elements of a tragic hero. Essentially, the similarities may be interpreted as the aspects of the plot that allows an engaging play. The differences are the approach to the plot and participation of other characters’ influence to the character. As a result, the difference is why Hamlet and the character of Hamlet, is significantly
Dr. Churchill
ELA 40S
February 23, 2018
Hamlet Essay
The classical tragic hero can be defined through examples in Aristotle’s Greek tragedies, mainly Oedipus in the Oedipus Rex Complex. Aristotle outlines the predominant elements of a classical tragic hero: The character must be multifaceted along with their hamartia, hubris, and catharsis. Tragic heroes in Senecan tragedies - otherwise, known as Shakespearean tragedies - such as Hamlet in the play of Hamlet, mutually hold a number of elements with the Aristotelian elements of a tragic hero. However, Shakespeare does not seem to follow the classic baseline completely; Shakespeare’s Hamlet is, rather, more complex than the simplicity of Oedipus. The main similarities and differences …show more content…
The recognition of truth is ultimately the climax in Greek tragedy and the event is made relatively obvious for the audience to comprehend feasibly. Oedipus, in this case, recognizes the truth subsequent to the shepherd and the Messenger’s words, and Jocasta realizes before he does. Due to Oedipus’ recognition of the truth from the prophecies, he goes into shock - the climax - and leads to his isolation from the community. However, in Hamlet, the audience is never sure if the Ghost was clearly the fallen King or just an evil spirit. As a result, even at the end of the play, the debate of whether the revenge was the right decision or not continues. To compare, “Oedipus is the unwitting fashioner of his own doom which is unveiled to him through recognition and repentance” (Dr. Churchill) and the tragic hero of Hamlet is not himself the source of the pollution of regicide, but it is his over-contemplativeness and the influencing confusion of other characters in the play that leads to his downfall. Through thorough examination of the character, Hamlet, of Senecan tragedy versus Oedipus of Greek tragedy, Shakespeare has inevitably altered some of Aristotle’s elements of a tragic hero. Essentially, the similarities may be interpreted as the aspects of the plot that allows an engaging play. The differences are the approach to the plot and participation of other characters’ influence to the character. As a result, the difference is why Hamlet and the character of Hamlet, is significantly