Hamlet Tragic Hero Research Paper

Hamlet as a Tragic Hero A tragic hero is a character that has “heroic traits” but also has “flaws or mistakes that ultimately lead to their downfall” (Hogue). Tragic heroes also have heroic traits that earn them the sympathy of the audience” (Hogue).” The character Hamlet is a tragic hero for multiple reasons. These reasons include his love for his father, his distrust in everyone, and his indecisiveness.

The play Hamlet is set right after Hamlet’s father is killed, but instead of Hamlet claiming his father’s throne his uncle quickly marries his mother in order to become king. This angers Hamlet because he always disliked Claudius. Hamlet also sees the marriage as disrespectful to his fallen father. Hamlet sees his father as a “ titan,” while he sees king claudius as a “half-goat

Hamlet’s Tragic flaw is indecisiveness. In the words of Matthew Sembinelli and Daniel Tsang Hamlet it is “calculated, rational-thinking, and intelligent” which makes him “ unable to act upon what he knows is crucial to the restoration of virtue.” This indecisiveness appears most often when Hamlet claims he is going to kill his father. This is because he over thinks this concept until he is worrying about every detail. This perfectionist mentality ultimately renders him unable to act. Although he seeks this revenge he uses “rational thinking to gloss over and hide behind excuses” (Seminelli and Tsang). Hamlet is therefore to intelectual to obtain the cold hard revenge that he seeks. In the end this overthinking catches up with hamlet and brings him to his judgement day. Although Hamlet is able to kill the king in the end it is much too late for Hamlet and his mother die by falling into the trap of Claudius. None of these deaths would have occurred if helmet way strong willed and ruthless. So in the end Hamlet’s tragic flaw of indecisiveness lead to his own death and allow Hamlet to be a great example of a tragic