The Evil Hero in Hamlet and Macbeth
Although it is somewhat masked by Shakespeare, both Hamlet and Macbeth are
portrayed as pernicious, vile villains whose atrocities echo the machinations of other
conniving characters; they lose their heroism in their blatant lack of repentance and
ignorance of morality.
Hamlet himself states that even though “one may smile,” he can also “be a
villain” (Ham. 1.5.8), and he sacrifices human dignity in his insatiable bloodlust by
wishing the praying Claudius a “more horrid hent” (Ham. 3.3.88). The alleged hero of the
play is wickedly twisted under the Avon Bard’s representation of a vicious young prince
who fancies his shameless act of murder to transcend mere revenge, moving towards the
barbaric slaughter of an obviously distressed king. While Hamlet is conniving new
heinous plots at the instruction of the audacious apparition, Claudius is crying out for “all
[to] be well” among “angels” and for a heart as “soft as sinews of the new-born babe”
(Ham. 3.3.69-72). The previously evil king thus jilts this notion - he is, at heart, seeking
reconciliation and has a dream for a better Denmark. Despite his obvious selfish interests
in the kingship, it cannot be overlooked that he maintains a sense of grief and woe for his
actions, yet Hamlet sees nothing wrong in his lumbering lust for death. The people of
Denmark, though they love Hamlet, cannot be unaffected by the capricious cloak that he
is using to deceive them all. In his act of deception and murder, Hamlet is no better than
Claudius. Moreover, when he is unable to at least attempt to repent, Hamlet becomes a
villain.
Macbeth, though he wavers in the beginning, practices the same art of deception
by espousing that the murderous night was “rough” (Mac. 2.3.58), later mirroring
Hamlet’s suicidal musings that “there’s nothing serious in morality / All is but toys”
(Mac. 2.3.89-90). Macbeth, formerly a revered warrior, as Hamlet was a noble prince,
falls prey to a thirst for power, whetted by Lady Macbeth. Macbeth further parallels the
fiendish love affair of Hamlet with grotesque death when he warns the murderers that he
“require[s] a certain clearness…leave no rubs nor botches in the work” (Mac. 3.133-4).
This perversion of morality marks the climax of Macbeth’s descent into villainy, and
there is no longer any question that his thirst for blood is greater and more vicious than
any of Duncan’s defensive wars. Although the role of Lady Macbeth cannot be denied in
this ensnarement, the simple fact is that Macbeth sacrificed his personal sense of morality
and values in the face of a single deviant voice, and for that he was a traitor to both
himself and his people.
Shakespeare had little patience for such twisted characters, and they promptly met
their demise at the hands of others – others who, although they are no doubt tainted with
impurities and countless faults, cannot match the trickery and debauchery that took place
on a personal level with the dastardly double helix of villains, Hamlet and Macbeth.
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