Hamlet One of the Most Tragic Characters

Hamlet

One of the most tragic characters ever created by Shakespeare is Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark. His tragic evolution relies on two important pillars: the inner conflict that devours him, correlated with the honourable necessity to revenge his father murder, and the frail nature of Hamlet as an individual evolving in a cruel world, a world often ruled by forces which we cannot control.

Hamlet's inner conflict, a constant throughout the play, is first triggered in Scene V, Act I, with the ghostly apparition of his father. It is here that Hamlet learns his father was murdered and where the spirit demands revenge: "Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder" (Act I, Scene V). Further on, Hamlet learns not only of the nature of his father death, but, most important, of the person who has committed the crime: "but know, thou noble youth, the serpent that did sting thy father's life/Now wears his crown" (Act I, Scene V). His very own uncle has killed his father in order to be able to gain the kingdom's crown and he has married his mother to sustain his act and new posture. Hamlet is not only facing the tragic death of his father, but indeed, the very loss of any confidence in his closest living relatives. Tragically enough, his deepest relation at this point is with his father's spirit.

The frail condition of a human being and of any individual in the world is perhaps best exposed in the final duel scene. In Laertes's words, after Hamlet is struck with the poisoned sword, "no medicine in the world can do thee good" (Act V, Scene II) - the destiny has spoken and Hamlet must die, against this there is no worldly response. Hamlet himself recognizes the frail nature of man in the world, by referring to important figures of history who have had to face their destiny and who eventually, like all mortals, faced death itself: "Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth into dust; the dust is earth" (Act V, Scene I). Further more, Cesar is "dead and turned to clay" (Act V, Scene II). So, we may point out that the frail nature of the individual in the world resides, most important of all, in his human condition and his inability to oppose destiny's forces.