Hamlet Comparison

Hamlet Comparison Essay

There are many definitions of what a tragic hero is considered to be. Every person has the right to believe, and to defend their belief concerning who or who is not a tragic hero. In my argumentative essay, I argue that Shakespeare’s Hamlet can be considered to be a tragic hero based on the definition of a tragic hero defined by Aristotle.

Prince Hamlet is born of noble stature which is one of the first qualities of a tragic hero. The play begins with the death of Hamlet’s father king Hamlet. Hamlet did not bring this consequence upon himself, however, the way he reacts to the world around him is what causes trouble for him and his family and close friends. Aristotle defines a tragic hero as one “that his fate was discovered

When Polonius believes Hamlet is depressed about Ophelia, he sends Ophelia to talk to Hamlet. Hamlet insults Ophelia and is too proud to take her back. Later however, at Ophelia’s funeral, Hamlet proclaims that he loves her more than Laertes ever did. One may believe that Hamlet did not care about Ophelia at all. However, that person must take into account how prideful Hamlet is and Ophelia hurt his pride.

At the beginning of the play, Hamlet goes to school in Germany.The audience knows based on his education and his dialect that he is an intelligent man. Aristotle proclaims that “The hero must be intelligent so he may learn from his mistakes” (Bainbridge). Hamlet is intelligent but he is never given the chance to learn from his mistakes on account of his untimely death. If Hamlet had not died, one could argue that he would learn from his mistakes. Possibly, upon seeing the death of everything he loved around him, he would realize that revenge is never the

Aristotle claims that a tragic hero must be no better or worse morally than the audience and this is what inspires pity. (Bainbridge). Maybe readers from Shakepeare’s era could relate to Hamlet, but in this day and age, this is not particularly common behavior. A tragic hero’s death is supposed to be “greater than deserved to inspire pity” (Bainbridge). Many people do not see Hamlet as a tragic hero. In a particularly interesting essay Hamlet is compared to an antihero with “pragmatic, inconsiderate, greedy, rebellious, cowardly, insubordinate, reluctant, and morally suspect” traits. (Hawkins). It can be argued that Hamlet is not a hero at all. However, Hamlet fits more characteristics of a tragic hero than he does