Hamlet, The Tragic Hero

Hamlet, The Tragic Hero

by Ava McHugh

In the story of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” the main character Hamlet finds out his uncle killed his father for the Throne of Denmark.  In the story Hamlet’s father’s ghost comes and asks Hamlet to take revenge on his uncle.  Hamlet’s tragic flaw, that leads to his ultimate death, is that he thinks too much.

One example of Hamlet thinking too much is when he doesn’t kill the King while the King is praying.  Hamlet wants the King to go to hell and worries that the King might go to heaven if he kills him while praying.  He decides to wait until the King does something bad. This is a sign that Hamlet is thinking too much.

Another example of Hamlet’s thinking too much is when he says his “To be or not to be…” speech.  When he is saying this speech he is thinking, “Should I just kill myself instead and end this war between me and my feelings”.  Again, he is thinking too much.

Then there is another example of when he is thinking too much.  To make sure the ghost wasn’t the devil tricking him, he planned a play of how his Uncle killed the King to see the Uncle’s reaction.  Then he would decide if his Uncle was guilty. This is another example of Hamlet stalling by thinking too much.

These examples of Hamlet thinking too much result in horrible things.  There are many things that wouldn’t have happened if Hamlet had killed the King in the beginning like he was supposed to.  His mother would be alive, Ophelia would be alive and so would many others, including Hamlet himself. It wasn’t wrong of Hamlet to hesitate about killing someone.  It is wrong to kill.  This makes Hamlet a hero. But, because so many people died, including Hamlet, this is what makes him Hamlet, The Tragic Hero.