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William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is one of his better-known tragedies. Penned in the late 1500s, the play’s main protagonist is Prince Hamlet. He pursues revenge on his uncle, Claudius, for murdering King Hamlet, the prince’s father. Additionally, Claudius coerces Gertrude, the king’s wife and Hamlet’s mother, to marry him instead, a fact that truly disgusts the prince. In the play, Hamlet sets out to avenge his father’s death, an action that ends in tragedy. There are three characteristics that make Hamlet the consummate tragic hero: he is a nobleman of high stature; his fate is the result of his own decisions; despite his noble status, Hamlet is not made out to be a perfect character in this play.
The first characteristic is the fact that Hamlet is a nobleman of high stature. He is the prince, son of King Hamlet. Even after his father dies, Hamlet interacts with the new king and his uncle, Claudius, and his mother in continuing to establish his nobility. Of this, Claudius says to Hamlet: “As of a father; for let the world take note /You are the most immediate to our throne, /And with no less nobility of love /Than that which dearest father bears his son” (1.2.311-314). Claudius is speaking of the fact that Hamlet is still the prince, which establishes the characteristic of his status in these lands. Hamlet does not yet know the fate that his uncle will befall of him. In fact, Claudius and Gertrude both act like doting parents in talking with Hamlet about his plans regarding a return to school. Of this, Gertrude says to Hamlet: “Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet/I pray thee stay with us, go not to Wittenberg” (1.2.321-323). In this part of the scene, Gertrude is imploring Hamlet not to go back to school and instead take his place in the kingdom by staying at home.
The second characteristic the makes Hamlet a tragic hero is the fact that he makes decisions that seal his fate. He is not a victim of circumstance. He makes the decision to take his anger out on this mother, incurring the wrath of his father’s ghost. Hamlet says to her: “On him, on him! Look you how pale he glares/His form and cause conjoin’d, preaching to stones/Would make them capable.- Do not look upon me/Lest with this piteous action you convert/My stern effects. Then what I have to do/
Will want true colour- tears perchance for blood” (3.4.2485-2489).
His decision-making to seal his fate is also shown in his desire to avenge his father with the death of the king. In this regard, Hamlet says to Claudius “Now might I do it pat, now he is praying/And now I’ll do’t. And so he goes to heaven/And so am I reveng’d. That would be scann’d/A villain kills my father; and for that/I, his sole son, do this same villain send/To heaven” (3.3.2356-2360). Once he makes the decision to kill Claudius, Hamlet is sealing his own fate. However, he is the one that makes such a decision, thus contributing to the characteristic that makes him a tragic hero.
Finally, a third characteristic is that Hamlet is not a perfect character. He has clear flaws that make him more human to the audience. He is clearly angry with his mother and in one scene, he causes her to fear his actions, showing that he has chinks in his armor. Hamlet says to Gertrude: “Come, come, and sit you down. You shall not budge/You go not till I set you up a glass/Where you may see the inmost part of you” (3.4.2405-2406.). To this end, Gertrude responds: “What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murther me?/Help, help, ho!” (3.4.2405-2408). This shows the fact that Hamlet has something of a volatile temper and this contributes to the fact that he is not a perfect character. No matter how much the audience may empathize with him, what makes him a tragic hero is the fact that he is not perfect and he clearly has personality flaws of his own.
Of Shakespeare’s many plays and tragic heroes, Prince Hamlet stands out as one of the most identifiable and among the most tragic. Not only does he die at the close of the play, but his entire family dies – including the uncle that kills him. It is Shakespeare’s longest play and the one that is most open to interpretation in terms of how each of the characters is perceived and the role that they play in the larger themes of the play. Ultimately, however, Shakespeare instills in Prince Hamlet all of the best-known characteristics of the tragic hero making him the perfect archetype for this character category.
Work Cited
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. The Norton Anthology of World
Literature. Maynard Mack, editor. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013.