Hamlet feelings for Gertrude will be disguised by the ones for Ophelia which aren't real as long as Claudius stayed in the way. His original indecisiveness about revenge ultimately grew and he tried to defy his order after a while. When his mother is killed, then the reason for not killing Claudius disappears and he makes the decision to kill his him and avenge his father. His indecisiveness does cost him his life and that of his mother who was the one reason for his living (Utter 137). The tragic flaw is of Hamlet is evident in his indecisiveness to take revenge for the death of his father. Hamlet brings up several excuses for not taking action yet he come across many opportunities of killing Claudius. Hamlet sets out to take action immediately after hearing first about the crime from the ghost of his father. Hamlet asks while speaking to the ghost, "O all you host of heaven! O. Earth! What else? / and shall I couple hell?" (I.v.25). Then again begin to think that his soul would be damn forever because probably the devil has conjured up the ghost of his father so as to make him irrational by killing Claudius. He thinks that Claudius might be innocent in this case. Through the play, Hamlet schemes to establish the guilt of Claudius. The play is stopped by Claudius when viewing it and he leaves because the situation makes him very uncomfortable. Hamlet sets out again to seek revenge for the death of his father because the play confirms the guilt of Claudius to Him. Claudius is then caught by Hamlet in prayer and this is a rare moment that Claudius is found alone. Hamlet then wants to damn the soul of Claudius by thinking how the sins of Claudius will be forgiven. He then decides to wait for another time to kill Claudius. A plot is set up by Claudius who has realized through all this that Hamlet has knowledge of his crime to have Hamlet murdered by sending him to England. Another plot...
A poisoned strike wounds Hamlet at the fencing match with the foil. Claudius is made to drink poison by Hamlet who kills him in a dying act. Because Hamlet failed to act in the times when he had ample opportunity, his indecisive flaw eventually destroyed him. And this makes his indecisiveness to be a tragic flaw (Halliday 74).
Hamlet's enigmatic behavior so upsets Ophelia that she drowns herself, making Laertes even more set on revenge. Eventually these two deaths lead to a duel (provoked by Claudius) between Hamlet and Laertes, No one wins. Laertes kills Hamlet with a poison-tipped sword; Hamlet kills Laertes. Gertrude drinks poison intended by Claudius for Hamlet. Hamlet, dying and seeing his mother already dead, forces the remaining poison down Claudius's throat. Conrad suggests
i., 124). What is clear is that Ophelia bears a certain significance to Hamlet that he never comes fully to grips with, and that is never fully revealed in the text. The multitude of emotions and relationships that Hamlet bears towards Ophelia, like those that exist between he and his mother and between he and Claudius, lead to complex and sometimes conflicting motivations for hamlet, causing him to remain
" This madness likely leads to Ophelia's suicide but, consistent with the entire theme of this play, the exact nature of Ophelia's demise is left to speculation. The fascination with Hamlet is uncanny. What provides this fascination is the fact that there is always more to what is going on in the play than what actually appears to be. Observers of the play are left with an overwhelming feeling that they
Heaven and earth! Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him as if increase of appetite had grown by what it fed on: and yet, within a month, -- Let me not think on't, -- Frailty, thy name is woman! -- a little month; or ere those shoes were old With which she followed my poor father's body Like Niobe, all tears; -- why she, even she, --
While Macbeth also appears to see ghosts as a result of killing his friend and the king, it is very probable that his visions are caused by his conscience, as he is unable to get over the fact that he murdered his best friend and the king. Lady Macbeth also yields to hallucinations: "Here's the smell of blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little
Aristotle studied literary theory in his book, Poetics, and in this study he defined and provided ideas about the concept of tragedy. Tragedy for Aristotle is defined as, "an imitation of life in the form of a serious story that is complete in itself; in other words, the story must be realistic and narrow in focus." He characterized a "good tragedy" if it brings about a feeling of "fear and/or
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