Hamlet: To Be Or Not To Be A Tragic Hero
The phrase "there is a hero to every story" has been heard numerous times, but can this be true if the hero dies in the story? It all depends on the definition of a hero. According to the tragic hero definitions of Abram's A Glossary of Literary Terms,Aristotle's theory of a tragic hero, and a combination of Merriam Webster dictionaries, a person can be classified as a hero even if he does not live to see the good that he has done or accomplished in his lifetime. This type of character is more correctly called a tragic hero. In the play, Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, Hamlet fits the mold of a tragic hero perfectly as he meets all of the requirements to be a tragic hero which are: A person of noble birth who occupies a powerful enough position to make choices which involve great numbers of people, decisions which can bring catastrophe to an entirekingdom. He also has to have a trait of goodness, but he cannot be perfect. The tragic hero also must possess some sort of flaw due to pride or his character and the destruction of this character is due to this flaw. The tragic hero must have a final moment of potential self-awareness, be a man of godlike prowess, and the his goodness must come to be honored as divinity in
Once the ghost of King Hamlet told him of the murder, his need to find the truth became unavoidable. Instead of acting Hamlet analyzed the situation thoroughly and changed his mind several times. And so he goes to heaven,/ And so I am revenged. According to Aristotle's definition the hero must have a final moment of potential self awareness. This characteristic is easily visible in Hamlet. 13-14) Hamlet showed his loyalties to his father, King Hamlet, after his death by mourning him and disapproving of his mother's marriage to his uncle. He will reconcile himself, as he is and all he is, with these now unveiled verities of this world and the next, if that may be. Hamlet was loved as a father loves his son. A critic said of Hamlet: Hamlet is as little of the hero as a man can well be: but he is a young and princely novice, full of high enthusiasm and quick sensibility--the sport of circumstances, questioningly with fortune and refining on his own feelings, and forced from the natural bias of his disposition by the strangenessof his situation and his responsibility of all of Denmark and their immediate connection to him. " Hamlet finally comes to terms with death and just accepting the situation for what it is. / How stand I then, That have a father killed, a mother stained,/ Excitements of my reason and my blood,/ And let it all sleep,.
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