Does Hamlet Have A Tragic Flaw? Question: Does Hamlet have a tragic flaw? If so, what is it and how does it effect his surroundings and how does it effect Hamlet himself? What is the outcome of his flaw? Hamlet has a tragic flaw in his personality and behavior. His flaw is that he is overly concerned with death and tragedy. This flaw or weakness in Hamlet leads him into a world of chaotic surroundings and madness. Hamlet's flaw and his mad personality led to the death of several people, including his mother and the King of Denmark! If Hamlet did not have this fascination with death and tragedy, the deaths of the several people would not have occurred--including his own. Hamlet did not always have this flaw in his personality. The flaw was presented to him by a ghost. The ghost of Hamlet's father told Hamlet that he was murdered by Claudius and asked Hamlet to avenge his murder. This is where the flaw is adopted by Hamlet and begins to effect his life. Hamlet begins to dig deeper and deeper to find the truth. He puts on an act of madness to disguise his revenge. Hamlet becomes so over-whelmed with death that death is all he thinks or cares about. The death and deception burn into his heart like a hot branding iron to a steer. Hamlet's flaw is intact. Hamlet has a friend, Horatio, who knows of the murder of Hamlet's father. Hamlet could trust Horatio with his plans and opinions. Horatio acted as an advisor to Hamlet, but he did not tell Hamlet that he was heading in the wrong direction. Because of this Hamlet's heart pounded hard with the thought of revenge. The flaw was there and the stage was set for tragedy. There was no way for Hamlet to change his destiny. "Haste me to know `t, that I, with wings as swift As meditation or the thought of love May sweep to my revenge." Hamlet's surrounding are increasingly affected by his flaw. Hamlet begins to forget all important obligations in his life and neglects his responsibilities, causing other problems. One very important commitment Hamlet has which he lets go is his relationship with Ophelia. Ophelia becomes very confused and hurt. Hamlet hurts her in a couple of ways. First, he neglects her, and second, he insults her. "Ha, ha! Are you honest?Are you fair?That if you be honest and fair, your honesty should admit no discourse to your beauty. I loved you not Get thee to a nunnery." Then Hamlet kills Polonius, Ophelia's father, which in turn makes her go mad and in her madness she commits suicide. Hamlet loses objectivity. He does not respect the King nor his mother's feelings. Hamlet meets with his mother and insults her. He calls her a whore and a sinner for marrying a murderer. Since he knows that the King is a murderer, he attempts to expose him. Hamlet stages a play in which the players act out the scenes of King Hamlet's murder. This greatly upsets the new King and the King adopts some of Hamlet's obsessions with death and begins to think of a way to get rid of Hamlet. All of the deaths in the play occur because of Hamlet's actions and his fascination with death. Ophelia dies because Hamlet kills Polonius. This drives Ophelia mad and then she commits suicide. I think she saw the truth of the treachery that was going on and thought that her death would be the better course of action. The King plots to kill Hamlet in a duel between Laertes and Hamlet. The tip of Laertes rapier was poisoned. He cuts Hamlet and then Hamlet gets Laertes' poisoned rapier and cuts Laertes. They both will die. Then Hamlet was supposed to drink out of a poisoned glass of wine but doesn't, so his mother does and she dies. The truth comes out. Hamlet then goes and stabs the King and pours poison down his throat. He dies. Then Hamlet and Laertes die from the poison. Horatio is left standing alive. Hamlet's actions have killed all the nobility in Denmark. If Hamlet did not have this fascination with death and tragedy, the deaths of several people would not have occurred, including his own. If Hamlet did not pursue his flaw and had chosen a different path, perhaps his life wouldn't have ended in tragedy. The theme of the play is tragedy leads to chaos and chaos leads to death; and life cannot exist without the three. It is a cycle and Hamlets' flaw causes his cycle to become shortened. "O, I die, Horatio!"
Throughout the play, Hamlet is shown not acting quickly in crucial situations, which brings us to his tragic flaw, hesitancy. Hamlet, stopping to think situations through, lets opportunities slip right through his hands that will immensely affect so many people in the future. If Hamlet would just act on instinct, than hesitancy would never be an issue.
revenge and revenge and revenge will never come to an end...” (210). Because he had seen first
Hamlet is now aware that Claudius, brother of the former King of Denmark, poisoned Hamlet’s father in order to usurp him and claim the crown for himself. Hamlet’s father instructs Hamlet:
ended up in the plot of King Hamlet's death and in the eyes of her son, seems to
...m just for a minute, when they were first married—and loved me more even then, do you see?” (Fitzgerald 152). However, Gatsby and Daisy’s feigned relationship went into asunder. Gatsby misconceives Daisy’s love for him, Daisy does not equally love Gatsby as he does her. Daisy chooses to stay with Tom Buchanan, her peremptory husband, for her own security.
... tragic flaw was no other than the innocent desire for reconcilement and her too human need to avoid conflict. In Hamlet's own words, this seems the very essence of veracity, "what a piece of work is man! how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties!" and yet, how solitary and uncomprehended; how quick to condemn, how reluctant to forgive and in doing so how like a Greek God, and how, so beautifully and fallibly human.
killed by his son Hamlet. In the end, King Claudius had to pay the price, he lost his new wife and
Later on down the road Hamlet sets up a play to be depicted the true way the king dies to see what Claudius does. He tell Horatio
Claudius falsed many people while staying true to himself. From the very beginning of the play, Claudius has only cared about himself. If it didn’t have anything to do with benefiting himself he wants nothing to do with it. You might think Claudius was doing the right thing. Stepping in to take the throne when King Hamlet died, but actually he was just selfish and wanted the queen and all the power. The ghost of Hamlet's father, King Hamlet states, “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life now wears the crown.” (1.5.45-46). Throughout
The controversy of whether or not the character Hamlet, in the play “Hamlet by William
...le there will always be many critics who argue that Hamlet waited too long to take revenge, the violence was, as Laertes points out, King Claudius’ doing. The actions of Claudius -and the Queen as well- establish an inevitable violent conflict that will take place no matter what; when it takes place is not of paramount importance. It is worth noting however, that throughout the play, when characters act with great haste, great misfortunate follows. For Hamlet, he resists stooping to the level of his mother was far too quick to marry Claudius. Instead, Hamlet plans his actions against Claudius, and in doing so proves himself noble and earns the forgiveness of Laertes. The destruction at the end of the play was the fault of Claudius. The exchange of forgiveness between Laertes and Hamlet – a glimmer of hope and reconciliation amidst the destruction, is Hamlet’s doing.
...t of the bottle of brandy.” (The Bridegroom, N.G, p.78), but this made him more worried that it could lead to them stealing his brandy “Hell, no, man, it was mad. If they got the taste for the stuff, they’d be pinching it all the time.” (The Bridegroom, N.G, p.78) and worse misbehaving around his bride-to-be. He will rather give them sugar and yeast to make them beer when his away to Francistown.
his prison and roam at nights. The ghost then calls upon Hamlet to avenge the murder.
As the play’s tragic hero, Hamlet exhibits a combination of good and bad traits. A complex character, he displays a variety of characteristics throughout the play’s development. When he is first introduced in Act I- Scene 2, one sees Hamlet as a sensitive young prince who is mourning the death of his father, the King. In addition, his mother’s immediate marriage to his uncle has left him in even greater despair. Mixed in with this immense sense of grief, are obvious feelings of anger and frustration. The combination of these emotions leaves one feeling sympathetic to Hamlet; he becomes a very “human” character. One sees from the very beginning that he is a very complex and conflicted man, and that his tragedy has already begun.
Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English author who considered himself mainly as a poet. A large part of his work was set mainly in the semi-fictional land of Wessex. In 1898 Hardy published a collection of poems written over 30 years, Wessex Poems his first volume of poetry. Emma Lavinia Gifford, Hardy’s wife, whom he married in 1874. He became alienated from his wife, who died in 1912; her death had a traumatic effect on him. He remained preoccupied with his first wife's death and tried to overcome his sorrow by writing poetry, he dictated his final poem to his first wife on his deathbed.