Hamlet's Hamartia Essay

Shakespeare, in his book, Hamlet explains the concept of hamartia as a weakness in a person's character that causes their downfall. He contradicts the notion that leading characters in stories-hereby referred to as protagonists end up becoming losers based on the fact that all the negativities are directed to him at the onset of the story to the offset. That usually happens in a way that it is usually hard to overcome such a failure. This act is purely hamartia in "nature" contrary to the Hebrews view. This paper, therefore, aims to analyze the circumstances and motivation that lead to the death of Hamlet and the fall of Denmark.

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When Hamlet converses to Horatio, he outlines to him a false perspective that he believes is common. This false perspective is viewed as the cause of corruption in every man. One can, therefore, support the perspective that the author is trying to explain the primary reason why Hamlet does not manage to take measures on his instincts. Shakespeare, thus, uses this discourse to offer a clue to the spectators the weakness portrayed by Hamlet. He says that all men, inclusive of him, bear the given flaw embedded in his personality (Shakespeare 23). Tragic flow points out the fact that Hamlet cannot act on stimulus when events that require rational and logical thinking and reasoning challenge him. He paints a false image that he identifies his father. That develops ill motives of revenge in him. It is this that also leads to his death.

As a result of this, there are occasions when Hamlet is quoted offering vindication for any trace of misfortune that comes upon him. Shakespeare unmasks this situation by revealing to the spectators that Hamlet is not in a position to rationally offer a smart and careful consideration through his coherent and deeper thinking. He was controlled by his selfish ambition to get revenge and protect his right as heir to his father's throne. There is an occasion where he was supposed to murder Claudius. The protagonist, therefore, has a golden opportunity to execute his plan of killing Claudius who is engrossed in prayer. Hamlet tries to wait for the next course of action before taking a course of action.

Also, Hamlet's weakness in character becomes evident when he quoted:

To be or not be (Hamlet III.1.58).At this point of the play, Hamlet was figuring out on how to commit suicide and therefore was weighing options on the results that his choice of action would lead to. He wonders:

Which nobler? To suffer life, "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" (Hamlet III 1.58)

As a result, he comes to realize that he had more questions than answers to figure out on his head. He, as a result, repeated the same question by adding "dreaming to sleep." He asserts that dreams coming from the sleep of death are intimidating, the fact that these dreams "must give us pause." This means that Hamlet realized that the suicide he wanted to commit would be nothing because it would not have a significant impact on what would happen to him in life after death.

Also, the knowledge of what killed his father through the dream precipitates his quest for more revenge on the basic question about life. He began to figure out what happens in the afterlife if in any case suicide is permissible. Hamlet is continuously figuring out death through suicide and the consequences that it comes with.

Hamlet is also afraid to die because of the uncertainties of life after death. All the choices that he makes are having a close connection with the death. Hamlet keeps on fighting with this inner conscience and thus opts to seek refuge in religion to find valid reasons for committing suicide and also to gain strength to kill Claudius who had murdered his father and married Hamlet's mother. Religion does not give him answers, and so he turned to philosophy by asking the possibility of being in a position to figure out the correct ''answer'' which he still end up finding the reasons insufficient.

On another note, death solves Hamlet's dilemma of giving in to revenge and apathy or retaining the values of nobility, rationality, moral integrity, and will. Death, therefore, offers him no choice. Thoughts of death curb his ability to make rational decisions regarding life and death. That offers him with no alternative. In the end, there are no more decisions and struggles to be made. It is therefore worthy to note that death decides the fate of every character and acts as a leveler of things

Hamlet fails to disclose the wrong deeds of Claudius until the point when he is heard confessing. He, therefore, doubted his motive and consequences after being led astray by his thoughts. It also led to his failure in executing the murder. Hamlet spends exceptionally too much time in deliberation on his action, and at the end of it all, he convinces himself out of the murder motive. He comes to believe that indeed his moral sense is the root course of his feebleness. Hamlet is aware of his weakness, and the fact that this incidence has disintegrated his relationship with Ophelia. But he ends up not being in a position to address this issue. He, therefore, does not achieve in the act on the ghost words alone and alerts Claudius of the fact that he was aware that Claudius was his father's murderer.

There are also situations when Hamlet acts without logical thought. For example, he fakes sanity and tries to follow a ghost, while Horatio and Marcellus try to accompany him to pull him out of the situation Hamlet threatens them and continues on his mission. He does not give a rational reason for his thinking and actions but insists on following the ghost without any real motive. Also, there is lack of motivation when he was being admitted to the queen's chamber. He goes ahead to stab the arras even without having being confirmed the individual who was hiding behind the curtain. Apparently, it is for this reason that he ends up assaulting Polonius to death.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the universal appeal of Hamlet relies on the point that everyone can empathize with the problems, struggles, and ideas. It is imperative for every individual to work on decision making-being in a position to handle dilemmas of choice between two or more conflicting ideologies. The last act of dying, therefore, is befitting to Hamlet's weak character that comes clearly through the play. Hamlet had the opportunity of figuring out the person responsible for his father's death, but his weaknesses prevented him from doing so.

Work Cited

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Krill Press via PublishDrive, 2015.