hamlet a tragic hero?

8/11/2019 Hamlet a tragic hero?

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Hamlet Tragic Hero

- Tragic hero

-

Tragedy (as opposed to an epic) relies on dramatic performances ratherthan a narrative

- Best tragic plots are single and complex

- Includes reversal situation seems to be developing in one direction butsuddenly switches to another

- Tragic pleasure of pity and fear- Cant be all good or all evil the audience has to be able to identify with

him but if he is superior in some way the pleasure in intensified

- Encounters obstacles from society, plan flaws, gods, nature etc.

- His end comes from mistaken action or error in judgement e.g. a

common one is pride and therefore the hero ignores the advice of the

gods- The hero must not die at the end but a change in fortune occurs. Receives

some kind of revelation

- Due to the heros suffering being more than his mistake the audience feels

pity

- Represents actions that give form to universal truths

- The tragic hero is "a [great] man who is neither a paragon of virtue and

justice nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness

or wickedness but because of some mistake."

- A great man - one of those who stand in great repute and prosperity. The

hero is neither a villain nor a model of perfection, but is basically goodand decent.

- Mistake - (hamartia): This Greek word, which Aristotle uses only once in

the Poetics, has also been translated as "flaw" or as "error." The great man

falls through--though not entirely because of--some weakness of

character, some moral blindness, or error. We should note that the gods

also are in some sense responsible for the hero's fall.

- The plot of a tragedy also involves some horrible or evil deed. The tragic

hero does it consciously, does it out of ignorance, or mediates it (makes it

easy for the deed to happen). To make it really horrible for the audience,

Aristotle suggested that the evil deed should be done to a family member.

Hamlet

Chain of being hierarchy of people

Regicide homicide of a royal occurs, King Hamlet and his brotherchain

of being is broken

Horatio the voice of reason lives he is the only one who lives to tell the

story to others

When a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts

without any irritable reaching after fact and reason Keats 1817

Hamlet is very indecisive procrastinator

To be or not to be? to kill or not to kill the reason people dont killthemselves is because they dont knowwhat happens afterwards


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Who is the tragic hero? What does he represent? Why is he saying it?

How does he say it?

Is he the actor? Is the madman? Ultimate renaissance figure? Ultimate

tragic hero?

Relates to life and death

In media res? In the midst of things plays jumps straight into the drama

Her father prostitutes Ophelia out. Hamlet who she loves tells her to not

to speak to him and calls her a whore so does her brother. We feel sorry

for her. She feels very isolated. She is pushed to suicide.

Protestants dont believe in ghosts.

Claudius marries Hamlets mother and calls Hamlet his son

Hamlet is in aside shows conflict

Oedipus complex Hamlet might just be jealous of Claudius likes his

mother

Outward appearance of insanity reality vs appearance or public vs

private Claudius calls Hamlet a wimp/unmanly because he grieves over his

fathers death for a long time is he right?

Hamlet goes to the university where the protestant religion was born

His first soliloquy in book

Horatio being the voice of reason so the fact he sees the old king makes it

believable

Is he crazy burden and seeing the ghost could make him crazy Ghost wearing armour ready for battle foreshadows a sense of doom or

turmoil (angry) or reminder of that he is a king

Ophelia Act 1 scene 3

I think shes quite smart pretends to listen to their advice but doesnt

fully take it in

Tells them what they want to hear he hath importuned me with love in

honourable fashion

She is like Hamlet in the sense that she listens to her fathers opinions

Meek and feeble Yes I will obey you very obedient to the men in her

life

The men speak much more than her

Maybe she just plays the weak I do not know my lord what I should

think

Her answers become a lot shorter when her father speaks to her

Hamlet doesnt tell Ophelia he is pretending to be mad fragility thy name is

women. He uses her to think hes madbecause if she thinks he is crazy she will

tell her father who is advisor to the king so theyll all think he is crazy.

Polonius blames Ophelia for Hamlet being mad due to lust


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hamlet a tragic hero?

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