Is Hamlet A Hero Or A Villain Essay

Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, centers around Hamlet’s contemplation of killing his uncle in order to avenge his father’s death. His decisions and values determine his fate. However, Hamlet’s intended action to avenge his father’s death is continuously postponed due to his moral dilemma. However, this moral dilemma causes him to make the decisions he does, and therefore, demonstrates the theme of his uncertainty versus his faith. Not only does faith stop him from taking alternative routes to achieve his goal, but his uncertainty causes him to either delay his revenge or make the wrong decisions. In fact, the decisions he makes also define him to be the epitome of the Aristotelian tragic hero. Thus, Shakespeare pairs the idea

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras are two characters that serve as foils for Hamlet. They are minor characters to Hamlet’s main, but are important to understanding Hamlet’s character in the play. Laertes and Fortinbras expose Hamlet’s true nature. Laertes, Fortinbras, and Hamlet are all in similar situations. They have all lost their fathers to murder and want some kind of revenge. The two men serve as foils to Hamlet with respect to their motives for revenge, the way they take action, and their behavior while carrying out their plans.

To be or not to be morally ambiguous is to have the lack of coherence in making moral life decisions. In Shakespeare's play Hamlet, the main character Hamlet goes through a great transformation. Hamlet seeks revenge toward Claudius who he believes killed his father for the throne. In many of Shakespeare’s play there is always a hero and a villain, but in Hamlet, Hamlet plays a pivotal role because he can be viewed as both the hero and the villain. Hamlet is seen as a morally ambiguous character due to the decisions he makes throughout the plot of the novel that ends up leading him to his demise. In this paper, the audience will understand how Hamlet’s moral ambiguity is significant to Shakespeare’s play as a whole.

Like many things, Hamlet is intelligent and honorable, but his indecisiveness is the cause of his tragic downfall. In the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare portrays that Hamlet is very incapable of finishing the task at hand. Throughout the drama Hamlet faces many trials and tribulations due to his late father Hamlet, who was murderously killed by Claudius. His inability to kill Claudius and himself is one grand flaw of an epic hero.

There are many things a king needs to be great. A king needs to be well-liked by his subjects to prevent being overthrown. Kings also need confidence, and substantial knowledge of the land and of the people he rules. Being well-liked and having conviction and knowledge are very important, but most of all, a king needs to be levelheaded. In order to call the important shots that impact an entire nation, a king needs a thorough thought process to reach the proper decision. This is where fault can be found with Hamlet. Fortinbras claims that Hamlet would make a good king, stating “For he was likely, had he been put on, / To have proved most royal” (5.2.413-415). While this quote may make Hamlet appear as a great future king, Fortinbras had never met Hamlet. Fortinbras was not able to get an accurate feel for what type of person Hamlet was day in and day out and therefore Fortinbras could not pick up on Hamlet’s key fault. That fault is Hamlet’s emotional instability. Hamlet certainly has support of the citizens of Denmark as told by Claudius when he expressed “The

One of the major themes in the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, is deception. In Act I Scene IV, one of the characters, Marcellus, claims: “Something is rotten in the State of Denmark” (1.4.100). This is referring to the act of deception, where everything may look fine to the naked eye, but there are underlying problems occurring in the state of Denmark. In utilizing diction and metaphors, Shakespeare adds more depth to one of the major themes of the play.

Sometimes in life people do not portray things how the really mean to. Sometimes people treat the people they truly love harshly. Sort of like how in the play of Hamlet, Hamlet acts like he does not really love Ophelia. But, in the tragedy of Hamlet, the protagonist, Hamlet, really did love Ophelia. This can be seen through his actions toward her before he found out about his father’s death being a murder, pretending to be crazy simply to prove to the king and Polonius, and by his actions after Ophelia 's death.

With regards to the loss of his father, Hamlet lost his sense of self-worth/value. He began to question life and whether it was specifically for him as a result of his mother marrying his uncle, Claudius, in a month's time after her husband’s death.Through the visitation of Old King Hamlet’s ghost, Hamlet was able to find purpose in life which, destroy his core issue of an insecure/unstable sense. Likewise, Hamlet had the ability to control his psyche in order for his antic disposition to work; this all lead for his quest to murder Claudius to be successful. After the encounter with the Old King’s ghost, Hamlet says, “The time is out of joint. O cursèd spite,/ That ever I was born to set it right!” (1.5.188-89). As a result of the truth concerning his father’s death, Hamlet feels as though all the gruesome occurrences happened because he only, can fix them. Hamlet receives a new meaning of self-worth. As the play goes on, Claudius realizes that Hamlet has discovered the truth about the Old King and beings to repent. As Claudius repents, Hamlet feels as though it's the best time to kill him until he says: And so ’a goes to Heaven; And so am I revenged. That would be scanned. A villain kills my father; and for that, I, his son, do this same villain send To heaven (3.3.73-78) Essentially, Hamlet wanted to murder Claudius because he was the Old King’s murderer. But, after he realized that Claudius was

We first encounter the character of Hamlet in Act 1 Scene 2 when he enters the court along with Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius, Laertes and Ophelia. He is dressed all in black. He is described as being gloomy, morose and still grieving the death of his father, who had died two months before.

Hamlet 's belief in that habit causes one to do evil without guilt can be connected to his own downfalls. Even so, Hamlet assumes that King Claudius is the habitual action that destroys good senses and strengthens bad behaviour. QUOTE. Hamlet is speaking to his mother about how habits can trigger the fall of an individual. The "monster" in this sense is Claudius, who Hamlet considers is the main cause of Gertrude 's sinful behaviour. Hamlet also goes on to say that custom can act like an angel, in that it strengthens good behaviour. He also mentions how frequent wearing causes clothes to become comfortable, which can be in reference to Hamlet 's disheveled appearance during Ophelia 's encounter. Hamlet 's "feigned madness" can be

There are various approaches to describing a hero. There is also an infinite number of individuals who can be defined as heroes. A hero can be a person who demonstrates valor. A hero can be a champion. A hero can even save a life or even mankind. In William Shakespeare 's play Hamlet, the most heroic and brave character is young Hamlet. Despite the fact Hamlet is stranded amidst a court filled with dishonesty and misconduct and is confronted by the death of his father and his mom 's relatively quick marriage to his father 's brother, he is viewed as daring and bold in the minds of readers. For, it is his courageousness, fearlessness, determination and bravery that proves that Hamlet is not only a strong willed individual but also the most heroic character in the play.

The main character in every heroic play has illustrated a set goal, whether it is anti-heroism or hero. One of the famous novel, Robin hood, depict antagonist and protagonist based on personal perspective. For example, Robin hood presented as a hero to the poor for offering them food, but the negative side is stealing and breaking the law which separated him from the classic hero characteristic. Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, protagonist Hamlet, described as anti-heroic through his action considering that, self-critical and cynical. In contrast, Hamlet draws sympathy, as well as reverence, from the reader since Hamlet feels the pain of losing his father along with the burden and impediment in avenging his murder.

The stories "Hamlet" and "Death of a Salesman" are two of the most well known tragedy stories. The stories may have been in two completely different eras, and have different plots, but the main characters in the story, Hamlet in "Hamlet" and Willy Loman in "Death of a Salesman" compare in many different ways. Although the characters can be seen as very similar, there are differences between the characters as well. Hamlet and Willy compare and contrast in the ways as they are both tragic heroes, they both act insane, and both have trouble doing what they say they are gonna do.

Hamlet is William Shakespeare 's renowned tale of mystery, intrigue, and murder, centered on a young misguided prince who can only trust himself. Some may say that the actions of Prince Hamlet throughout the play are weak and fearful, displaying a tendency to procrastinate and showing an apathetic nature towards his family and peers. Others spin a tale of a noble young scholar, driven mad by the cold-blooded murder of his father by his uncle. In truth, I believe Hamlet is neither of these things. Hamlet is a sort of amalgamation of the two, a bundle of contradictions thrown together into one conflicting but very human mess of a character. The quote, "We admire Hamlet as much for his weaknesses as for his strengths", aptly describes my feelings towards this troubled young prince. It is simply impossible to characterise Hamlet as good or bad, strong or weak. It is my aim to show the depth of Hamlet 's personality and to explain to the best of my ability the traits which make him who he is. Hamlet is the neither the hero nor the villain of his story- he is simply a victim, a young man slowly losing his grip on sanity over the course of the play.

The “Tragedy of Hamlet”, Prince of Denmark, is a tragedy written by greatest writer William Shakespeare, also the playwright of his legendary plays “The Tragedy of Macbeth” and “Romeo and Juliet”. In the play, there is a palpable connection between their target audience and dramatic works. A speech presented by King Claudius in Act 4, scene 5; is a perfect example of this relationship. In the speech, it showed how Claudius was trying to earn the sympathy of the audience, but instead, he gained antipathy. The modern-day audience had a completely different outcome because of present-day cultural, social, and economical perception.