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The Tragedy Of Hamlet

Essay by   •  August 27, 2010  •  858 Words (4 Pages)  •  2,278 Views

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Arguably the best piece of writing ever done by William

Shakespeare, Hamlet the is the classic example of a

tragedy. In all tragedies the hero suffers, and usually dies at

the end. Othello stabs himself, Romeo and Juliet commit

suicide, Brutis falls on his sword, and like them Hamlet dies

by getting cut with a poison tipped sword. But that is not all

that is needed to consider a play a tragedy, and sometimes

a hero doesn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t even need to die. Making Not every play in

which a Hero dies is considered a tragedy. There are more

elements needed to label a play one. Probably the most

important element is an amount of free will. In every

tragedy, the characters must displays some. If every action

is controlled by a hero\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s destiny, then the hero\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s death can\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t

be avoided, and in a tragedy the sad part is that it could.

Hamlet\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s death could have been avoided many times.

Hamlet had many opportunities to kill Claudius, but did not

take advantage of them. He also had the option of making

his claim public, but instead he chose not too. A tragic hero

doesn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t need to be good. For example, MacBeth was evil,

yet he was a tragic hero, because he had free will. He also

had only one flaw, and that was pride. He had many good

traits such as bravery, but his one bad trait made him evil.

Also a tragic hero doesn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t have to die. While in all

Shakespearean tragedies, the hero dies, in others he may

live but suffer \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Moral Destruction\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". In Oedipus Rex, the

proud yet morally blind king plucks out his eyes, and has to

spend his remaining days as a wandering, sightless beggar,

guided at every painful step by his daughter, Antigone. A

misconception about tragedies is that nothing good comes

out of them, but it is actually the opposite. In Romeo and

Juliet, although both die, they end the feud between the

Capulets and the Montegues. Also, Romeo and Juliet can

be together in heaven. In Hamlet, although Hamlet dies, it is

almost for the best. How could he have any pleasure during

the rest of his life, with his parents and Ophelia dead. Also,

although Hamlet dies, he is able to kill Claudius and get rid

of the evil ruling the throne. Every tragic play must have a

tragic hero. The tragic hero must possess many good traits,

as well as one flaw, which eventually leads to his downfall.

A tragic hero must be brave and noble. In Othello, Othello

had one fatal flaw, he was too great. Othello was too

brave, too noble, and especially too proud to allow himself

to be led back to Venice in chains. A tragic hero must not

back down from his position. He also has to have free will,

in order to stand up for what he believes in. Finally, the

audience must have some sympathy for the tragic hero. In

MacBeth, although MacBeth commits many murders, one

almost feels sorry for him and his fate. Hamlet is the perfect

example of the tragic hero. Hamlet has all the good traits

needed to be a tragic hero. He is brave and daring. One

example of this is that when he went to England, he was

taking a big risk. If his plan didn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t work, he would have

been executed He also is also loyal. His loyalty to his

father, was the reason he was so angry at Claudius

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