"Hamlet"- A Tragedy.

Essay by ttkhCollege, Undergraduate September 2005

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Is it a tragedy when a person does things he knows are wrong yet he has to do this deed? Prince Hamlet faces the truth of this deed in "Hamlet", the play written by William Shakespeare. There are many ways for Hamlet to solve the problems, but he chooses revenge, even though it does not change anything. It just makes him satisfies to have kept his promise to his father's spirit. He does not achieve honor or justice for his relatives, for his friends and even for himself. The tragedy underlies the plot in three fateful elements: death, corruption and betrayal. As F.M de Voltaire writes:

"Hamlet" is a tragedy perhaps most often, and justly admired for its intellectual energy. Hamlet's mind comprehends a universe of ideas, and he astonishes us with the copiousness and eloquence and luminousness of his thoughts. But I think we should remember, as thoughts, and usually their occasion, is a continuous and tremendous experience of pain and suffering.

(Kirsch,. 95)

In "Hamlet", the play written Shakespeare, the Prince seeks revenge by killing his relatives and even killing the innocent. Death, corruption and betrayal are the elements that make the play Hamlet become more of a tragedy. These elements are represented in the following three examples: first, the death of innocent characters who became wrapped up in the corruption of the royal family; second, the protagonist's ultimate destruction in the end caused by his actions; and third, the lies and dishonesty that spill over into the most sacred of relationships, those between family and those between a king and his people, thereby destroying any glimmer of hope for a happy ending.

Many critics have tried to probe into the depths of this enigmatic Shakespeare character, Hamlet. He is a man who has an extraordinary problem:...