Hamlet

Hamlet Essay by: Raman Punn In William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, the main character Hamlet demonstrates the concept of heroism through his actions of patience, loyalty, and bravery. Although the flaws evident in Hamlet’s character lead to tragic events, they also contribute to him being viewed as a tragic hero. The play commences with the death, or alleged murder of Hamlet’s father. More tragedy occurs after the love of Hamlet’s life, Ophelia, commits suicide, and finally, at the end of the play, tragedy strikes again with the deaths of many characters. Numerous people have different opinions of Hamlet, but after what he has achieved, I believe he is a hero. Hamlet’s father, the former King of Denmark has passed away, putting Hamlet through a stretch of time which he has never felt before. It was his first taste of tragedy. Everybody loved his father, and Hamlet had to live up to him. However, Hamlet’s father was murdered, by Claudius, Hamlet’s own uncle. “Now, Hamlet, hear: “Tis given out that, sleeping in mine orchard, a serpent stung me; so the whole err of Denmark is by a forged process of my death, rankly abus’d but know, thou noble youth, the serpent that did sting they father’s life now wears his crown.” (1.5 – 34-39). Hamlet’s own uncle has killed his father, and now taken his mother’s hand in marriage: “Thrift, thrift, Horatio. The funeral baked meats did coldly flourish forth the marriage tables” (1.2 – 180-181). Hamlet is struck with the idea that people are so cheap that they use the same food for the wedding, as well as the funeral. Hamlet must get revenge against his uncle for the catastrophic thing he did to his father, but unlike a normal hero, he does not act right away. It is his patience and bravery that take control: “thus conscience does make cowards of us all”(3.1 – 83). Hamlet sees an opportunity to gain revenge for his father. Although he witnesses Claudius praying alone in a church, Hamlet does not believe he should commit the murder in a church, because he imagines that Claudius would go to heaven if he did. His patience saves Claudius’ life at that moment. His patience at this point saves the life of the man that killed his father, but for some, it may seem like a very un-heroic act. Hamlet has met the love of his life, Ophelia. She is Polonius’ daughter. Polonius plays a major role in Hamlet’s actions. Since Hamlet has put on a charade, he is not able to be true with Ophelia. Some things he did really trouble her: “My lord, as I was sewing in my closet Lord Hamlet with is doublet all unbraced no hat upon his head, his stockings fouled, ungartered, and down gyved to his ankle, pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other, and with a look so piteous in purport, as if he had been loosed out of hell, to speak of horrors, he comes before me” (2.1 – 77-83) Hamlet’s absurd behaviour may be deemed crazy by some, but as we learn, it is all out of love for Ophelia. Hamlet just has his own unique way of expressing his love. Hamlet, however, is focused on avenging the death of his father. Not finding the right time to follow through with it in his previous attempt, he now feels that he has enough proof to blame the murder on Claudius. As he prepares to strike Claudius, he makes a mistake, killing Polonius, Ophelia’s father, instead. Whereas before, Hamlet took too much time to make a decision, this time he did not think it through enough, acted too quickly, and had an accidental murder on his hands. Hamlet’s actions have led to a tragedy, which will have major implications on those he cares most deeply about. The death of her father makes Ophelia go crazy. She is not making any sense by speaking gibberish all the time: “there’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance. Pray you, love remember, and there is pansies, that’s for thoughts” (4.5 – 175-177). Some people may question where Hamlet’s heroics come into play. However, Hamlet demonstrates his loyalty and his romantic side with his remarks about Ophelia. “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not withal their quantity of love make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her'” (5.1 – 271-273). By declaring this, I believe it reveals his heroism. He stood up to Ophelia’s own brother, Laertes, and questioned his love towards his own sister. His loyal remarks make others feel foolish when they would make comments about Hamlet and his love for Ophelia. His heroic actions were not quite finished though. As a consequence for mistakenly killing Polonius, Hamlet has to face Laertes, Polonius’ son. Laertes wants revenge on Hamlet and will stop at nothing to receive it. Laertes, unlike Hamlet, does not like to think; he wants to take action and wants to take action immediately. He does not even care where he gets revenge, he just wants to obtain it: “no place should murder sanctuaries: Revenge should have no bounds” (4.7 – 127-128). Claudius uses his words to let Laertes know that it is okay to get his revenge anywhere. Hamlet, being the brave hero, accepts Laertes’ challenge to fight. Laertes was always believed to be the more successful fighter, but Hamlet took everyone by surprise. He allowed his actions to speak, not his words: “A touch, a touch; I do confess’t” (5.2 – 56). His heroic performance in the fight led to people being mistaken on their thoughts of Hamlet. However, a twist occurs. Hamlet’s knife has poison on the tip, thus Laertes is killed. The queen, Hamlet’s mother, drinks poison, and Claudius is struck by the knife as well. Before Hamlet dies, he makes a profound comment to Horatio that contributes in making him remembered as a brave hero: “Things standings thus unknown shall live behind me! If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart, absent thee from felicity awhile, and in this harsh world draw thy breathe in pain to tell my story.” (5.2 – 346-349). Hamlet says this to his best friend, Horatio, basically declaring that he wants whatever happens in the kingdom to be known to the world. He wants the story to be spread, so people know the truth about what happened. As I mentioned previously, Hamlet finally got his revenge for his father, and proved that he was a hero, although all the tragedies occurred during a short period of time. In William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, the main character Hamlet demonstrates the concept of heroism through his actions of patience, loyalty, and bravery. His flaws lead him to be viewed as a hero in the people's eyes. Although he makes a few errors on the way, Hamlet avenges his father’s death, realizes his true love for a special woman, and has the story for the kingdom told to the world. In my eyes, Hamlet is a hero. He was a hero in the past, and continues to be one now, even in today’s society.