Archetypes In Hamlet

From comic books, to the big screen, to reality, heroes have been known to touch the hearts of others. As the figure head of light, heroes descend into our world and protect humanity from major crisis. Although we give them the title “Hero”, there are many different aspects of them. Per the article “Archetypes,” there are 12 different aspects of a hero. These heroes are known as Archetypal Heroes. Archetypal Heroes are:

1. Hero as warrior (Odysseus): A near god-like hero faces physical challenges and external enemies 2. Hero as lover (Prince Charming): A pure love motivate hero to complete his quest 3. Hero as Scapegoat (Jesus): Hero suffers for the sake of others

4. Transcendent Hero: The hero of tragedy whose fatal flaw brings about

As I first begin to read hamlet I thought of hamlet as a Romantic/Gothic Hero. Though he didn’t have a deep dark past, I still felt like the things he went through during those past months would make up for it. Hamlet father died and in that same month his mother married his uncle. Hamlet wasn’t too happy about that and began to despise his mother and uncle. During that time, a ghost of hamlets father appeared before him and asked him to get revenge for his death. Hamlet agreed to do as the ghost plead because of the love he had for his father. Now this is where Hamlet assumes another form of an Archetypal Hero. To get revenge hamlet becomes the Unbalanced Hero. Hamlet begins to act as if he’s lost his mind. Hoping that while he does so, the killer of his father would be revealed. He was successful on figuring out that his uncle was the killer while in that state but unfortunately, due to his craziness there was a couple of accidents on the way. He made Ophelia, the one he loved, go crazy and due to that she ended up killing herself. He also ended up killing Ophelia father Polonius while visiting his mother chambers. Now when Laertes, Ophelia older brother, heard of this he was angered. Here’s where Hamlet transform from an Unbalanced Hero to a Transcendent Hero. Due to the influence of his uncle, Laertes was convinced to take arms against hamlet and get his revenge. They planned to poison hamlet during a match between him and Laertes. They first tried to poison hamlet with a drink but it backfired when the queen decided to drink it instead of hamlet. During their match, the queen dies due to the poison she consumed. As hamlet grieve over the death of his mother, he is cut by Laertes and poisoned. Enraged, Hamlet kills the king, his uncle, and poisons