Hamlet, The Protagonist

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The Protagonist of Hamlet As often associated with a tragedy, a conflict usually ensues between a protagonist and another force in the play. A tragedy is ‘a serious drama typically describing a conflict between the protagonist and a superior force and having a sorrowful or disastrous conclusion that elicits pity or terror’ (Webster's dictionary). Given its structure and depth in characterization, this play will or can be analyzed and interpreted from various perspectives and beliefs. However, my analysis of the play is conducted on the basis of various components which are: Hamlet as a tragic hero, the ironic message conveyed in the play, the roles of its characters, the role and personification of madness, the role of paranormality, the role of friends and family, the role of inaction, the role of sex and violence, and the role of death as portrayed in the play. Based on literary definitions and portrayal of his character, there is popular belief that Hamlet as the protagonist acted to satisfy his own conscience but could his actions be attributed purely to his desire or was he being influenced by other factors? Hamlet is a tale of tragedy by Shakespeare which tells the story of the prince of Denmark who is on a quest to avenge the death of his father at the hands of his uncle whom subsequently becomes king of Denmark. This is what fuels the fire in the play as Hamlet feels the responsibility to avenge his father’s death by his uncle Claudius; however, Claudius assumed the throne following the death of hamlets father. It is in this context that we see the evolution of hamlets character from a student and young prince of Denmark to the protagonist and tragic hero in the play. Being the protagonist of ... ... middle of paper ... ...ich is an indication as to what age bracket he must have been. Youngsters are typically frail in character and hamlet is not an exemption. For this reason, he was easily influenced by many factors some of which turned out to be helpful while others were not to the best of his interest. To Hamlets credit, he seemed to be an intellectual individual. This may have been possible due to the fact that he was a student. He came up with some reasonable ideas in his quest to uncover the truth. His idea of staging the scene of his fathers death was a magnificent idea in my opinion and this is what ultimately led to his conclusion that Claudius was indeed responsible. However, it is his brilliance that could be the most valid argument in favor of his madness being feigned for the fact that some of his decisions did seem to come from a reasoning mind.

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