Lord Of The Flies

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorHigh School, 12th grade August 2001

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Hamlet is an interesting and excellent play that was probably ever written by William Shakespeare. In this essay I shall examine the play as a tragedy and Hamlet as a tragic hero.

For a play to be considered as a tragedy there must be a hero who strives to find a solution to a major conflict in the play and usually dies trying or succeeding by solving the conflict. But in some cases the hero does not need to die at the end and could go on to live a happy life but this is not the case in this play, for at the end, this is a play of sorrow. This play can be considered a tragedy because Hamlet's death could have been avoided many times. At first, when Hamlet got news form the ghost that his father was killed by his uncle Hamlet could of just planned an attack to kill the King, Claudius. Also when Claudius stormed out from the play that Hamlet had made, and went to pray, Hamlet could have killed him there too and ended it all.

Hamlet could of also make the murder of his father become public and surely the public, which adored and loved Hamlet would probably believe Hamlet even if he was making it all up. With all of these options to kill the King, Hamlets' life could have been saved but his pride got into his way. If Hamlet had killed the King early on when he had spoken to the ghost, probably Hamlet life could have been saved and so many souls wouldn't of been lost. But in the end, Hamlet probably wouldn't of lived a very happy life afterwards if he survived, killed Claudius and became King because of the deaths of his mother, father and his love, Ophelia. But in the end Hamlet succeed in what he planned out to do; to kill the King and he succeed even though it cost him and many others their lives.

Every tragic play must have a tragic hero for it to be considered a tragedy. For the hero to be considered a tragic hero he must have certain qualities or character traits that make him stand out from everyone else in the play. This character must also have one character flaw that would lead to his demise. Also, the audience must feel some type of sympathy or passion towards the hero in the play. Hamlet can be considered a tragic hero because in the play he is very loyal to his father who was the former King. Hamlet is also brave because he doesn't care about the repercussions of going after the King. He is also very intelligent because he knows how to play with peoples minds and finally, Hamlet is daring, he is not afraid to take any risks, like the risk he took when he went to England with Rosencratz and Guilderson.

Hamlet also had one character flaw that led to his death. It is his pride which was an obsession to find his fathers murder and probably. This is why Hamlet took so long to kill Claudius because of his achievements; he wanted to kill Claudius at the right time and at the right place so he could be satisfied and pleased that he achieved what he set out to do. Also the readers or the audience are able to feel sympathy for Hamlet and his quest for revenge for the death of his father. I think that the audience probably felt as if they were part of the play and this probably makes Hamlet a true tragic hero because he is adored and loved by the audience.

I think that these qualities make Hamlet a true tragic hero because he displayed the personalities, actions and feelings that a tragic hero should have.