Hamlet tragic flaw is his inability to deal with problems head on. He has to think about them and find what he thinks is the absolute best solution, and often, he thinks about them so much that he never does come to a conclusion. He cannot act, he has to think, think, think, and it gets in the way of everything else in his life. He is also extremely cynical and negative, which only adds to his ultimate tragic law.
If Claudius were simply evil, he would be a one-dimensional character, and he certainly is not that. He is manipulative, almost paranoid, and power-hungry. However, he, at least at times, seems to genuinely care for Gertrude, and he is certainly wise enough to fear Hamlet when he learns he has killed Polonius. He is not purely evil, he display some characteristics that are not evil, although he does show remorse, and prays for forgiveness, showing that he is not completely evil and without any morals, even though his actions sometimes seem like it.
Gertrude is an intriguing character that challenges the reader to decide why she does the things she does. While it would seem that she did not love her husband, but it really seems like Gertrude marries Claudius so quickly because she knows it is the only way to preserve her status and position in the kingdom, otherwise she will lose power, rank, and privilege. She needs a man to protect her, and she uses Claudius to save herself, just as Claudius uses her to ensure he can take over the kingdom.
It seems by the end of the play that Hamlet is truly insane. He talks to dead skulls, he reacts irrationally (such as when he stabs Polonius even though he cannot even see it is really him through a curtain), and he plots revenge on his uncle, but cannot bring himself to carry it out until his own mother dies. He seems extremely depressed and cynical, and he just seems mad. He is not acting, there would be no reason for him to act mad, it would not help him gain revenge, and so, he is truly mad.
This explains the indecisiveness of Hamlet to remove Claudius and a strong barrier between Gertrude and Hamlet is made by him so as he will never express his true emotions for her. 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
For Oedipus to be considered successful, then, he would have had to challenge his own fate and succeed, rather than enact it entirely according to what was set out for him. In Hamlet, on the other hand, the enemy is tangible and human in the form of Hamlet's uncle, and thus Hamlet is able to confront and vanquish him. Thus, Oedipus represents a kind of ignorant struggle against the
Bradley describes this by saying that "Othello's nature is all of one piece... Love, if he loves, must be to him the heaven where either he must leave or bear no life. If such a passion as jealousy seizes him, it will swell into a well-night incontrollable flood" (Bradley 188). This shows how Othello goes to the extremes, especially relating to his emotions. Bradley also says that "He is
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
Hamlet's Ghost has presented a problem for critics and readers since it first appeared on stage some four hundred years ago. Serving as the pivot upon which the action of the play is established -- Hamlet's father's ghost delivers him important information about his death and the throne -- one is likely to ask whether the ghost is truly the soul of King Hamlet or rather a devil appearing in
The centrality of the ghost to the play's metaphysics might be inferred from the fact that William Shakespeare acted as the ghost and the player king (Bloom), a strange chimera and bellerophon within the anatomy of the play. To cite Eliot again, Hamlet "is the 'Mona Lisa' of literature" (cf. Hoy 182). It is an exciting challenge to participate in this critical tradition in hopes of concluding it. However, the
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