Hamlet Essay Research Paper Within all of

Hamlet Essay, Research Paper

Within all of William Shakespeare s tragic plays the main characters contains a tragic flaw. A tragic flaw of a character is defined as some aspect of the character that will enviably result in his or her demise. In Hamlet the main character, Hamlet contains sever tragic flaws just as most of all normal humans do. As many people say it is a well known fact that no one is perfect and because Hamlet even as a character is portrayed as being human is not perfect himself. The tragic flaws of Hamlet are portrayed so well throughout this play because of Shakespeare s natural talent for descriptive literature as well as well as his ability to portray tragedy. Hamlet s tragic flaws as I see them a very well portrayed and evident. As I see it he has two major flaws that result in his death at the end of the play. The two major flaws would be that the world around him is too corrupt that he cannot become corrupt himself. The second major flaw is that he is too ethical/noble a character to commit murder. Hamlet had no control of his future, and the situation that he was about to be in. It seemed as if it was all laid out for him as a plot. It began with King Hamlet (his ghost) appearing in the beginning of the play and revealing the corruption, and the deception that was his life. The ghost reveals to Hamlet the first instance of corruption; King Hamlet s murder. Also to further the disrespect and disregard the sanctity of marriage, Gertrude marries the man that had killed her husband. When Hamlet first saw the ghost he did not believe that this was the ghost of King Hamlet but just his mind playing tricks on him. The pieces of his life began to fit together and he began to realize that this might very well be the ghost of his late father. As Hamlet s life fits together and the ghost s story begins to fit together he is told many new things to do with his life. The corruption has even affected Hamlet s life so much that he cannot have or be with the woman he lives because of conflict of interest. Once it is revealed to Hamlet that Claudius is the murder of King Hamlet, Hamlet has sworn to get revenge in order to avenge the death of his father. Just like in present day life people won t believe that someone is guilty of something unless their guilt is proven without a doubt or that they admit to the crime. The charge that Hamlet had to hold against Claudius(The King) if not justified could result in Hamlet s execution. The corruption as previously explained cannot be justified unless proven without a doubt. The only way make Claudius admit his guilt is with a charade or play to make him admit that he actually killed King Hamlet. The play that Hamlet concocted and the whole idea of changing it so that it matched the story that was that of the death of King Hamlet made Claudius reveal that he truly was the killer. The fact that Claudius was the killer and that Gertrude had married him probably made Hamlet question Gertrude s actual love for the late King Hamlet. The world around Hamlet was now proven to be truly corrupt and thus showing that he himself would not allow himself to become corrupt. The act of madness well hid his true feeling and hatred towards Claudius and his feeling that he should just kill Claudius. Hamlet still could not get himself to do such a thing yet. Hamlet has had a particularly perfect time that he could have brutally murdered Claudius and avenged his father s death. Claudius was praying in church and repenting because he realized the wrong that he has committed against Hamlet, Gertrude, as well as King Hamlet himself. Hamlet could have easily killed him but he is too ethical and noble a character to actually have committed murder. If Hamlet had just killed Claudius as soon as he found out that Claudius is the real murder then he could have avoided all the situation of his demise and continued on with his life. Nobility and ethics I guess could be seen as a bad thing in many people because the opposing party is given time to prepare as well as plan of an alternative prevention them selves. To follow your heart and just do as you feel is right could save your life. Hamlet had caught Polonius listening while he was talking to Ophelia about putting her into the nunnery. Again if Hamlet had put his ethics aside and had just disposed of Polonius when he first discovered that Polonius was spying on him, he could have stopped Claudius from knowing more about Hamlet s life. The second time that Hamlet knew that he was being spied on while he was talking to his mother, he had done something about it. I still believe that he is too ethical a character to commit murder, because he didn t know that that was Polonius and he did intend to kill him, but to only harm and reveal the spy. Murder did not seem to be an ability of Hamlet. With the way that hamlet has been treated and his life destroyed, his family disemboweled, and the woman he loved removed form his life, still he did not go insane, but was intelligent enough to use madness and insanity as a shroud to hide his true idea of revenge.

Hamlet began a duel near the end of the play with no intent of murder, but in most normal people murder is not something that is intended, but is something that usually just happens unless the person is truly a murder. There was a murder in the duel and another in the room at the time. Claudius and Laertes were the murders. The drink that Hamlet was to drink f