Tragic Flaw Of Hamlet Research Paper

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In spite of the fact that tragedies had been written in the English language before William Shakespeare’s time, it was England’s national poet who gave tragedies their distinguishing qualities and elevated tragedies to its peak of excellence. It is within Shakespeare’s tragedies where the operation of a tragic flaw in a hero’s character is depicted. The word “tragic flaw” is derived from the Greek concept of Hamartia, used by Greek philosopher Aristotle. A “tragic flaw” is defined as a personality trait of a story’s protagonist that leads to his or her demise due to the personal defect of their character; although, chance, fate, and sometimes supernatural play in the role of the fall of the tragedy’s hero, Shakespeare’s tragedies essentially …show more content…

His greatness would exude in all of his accomplishments, except one: his inability to act. Hamlet could not find himself to be able to avenge his father’s death without adjournment. The tragic flaw in Hamlet’s character is what caused him to postpone his revenge on Claudius, the brother and murderer of the late king Hamlet. The error or frailty in Shakespeare’s character is Hamlet’s idealistic beliefs. While Hamlet’s idealism is certainly a good characteristic to have, in this case, because of Hamlet’s atmosphere and circumstances which befall on him, his beliefs causes great conflicts within himself. Hamlet was gifted with an intelligent mind which he used extensively. Because of his idealistic views, he believed that things should be inherently good, and that people’s motives should be fair. It is when Hamlet is faced with the corrupt Denmark that he begins to feel a great deal of difficulty in coming to terms with all of the evil that surrounds him. It is also with his own idealistic nature, that Hamlet would have great difficulty in committing a brutal act of such harsh violence. The command the late king Hamlet’s ghost ensued on Hamlet goes against his idealistic views in a very basic and fundamental

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