Hamlet as a Tragic Character

The play, Hamlet, is a masterful tragedy written by Shakespeare. In a Shakespearean tragedy many of the main characters have tragic flaws and perform tragic actions, eventually leading to a tragic resolution, which in this play is the death of all the major characters except Horatio. Hamlet is the main character and focal point of the play. Is Hamlet a tragic character? You had better believe it! Hamlet has the whole package of a tragic character which includes tragic flaws and actions which result in an inevitable outcome or tragic resolution. Hamlet has many tragic flaws but what is the first one shown to us by Shakespeare? The first tragic flaw of Hamlet is seen in his first soliloquy in Act 1,scene 2, when Hamlet talks of suicide after finding out his uncle has married his mother so soon after his father's death.

Hamlet is so distraught that his mother is with his uncle that he says some powerful things which show how he truly feels at the time. "O that this too too sallied flesh would melt,/Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!/Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd/ His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God, God." What exactly does this show us about Hamlet? He loved his father very much and it hurt him so badly to see him "forgotten" already that he wants to end his own life. This is a very tragic flaw; the fact that he is so depressed that he contemplates suicide. Besides suicidal thoughts is there some other tragic flaw hidden in this passage? I believe that there is an underlying theme of cowardice hidden in the text as Hamlet says he wants to commit suicide but he will not act on it. He is stopped from killing himself, supposedly, by the fact that God has a law against suicide. I think that this is really an excuse of a man that is too afraid to take his own life and not just the concerns of a "God-fearing" man. I have come to this conclusion based on other evidence in the text that leads me to believe that Hamlet is a coward and is afraid to act on his feelings.

This idea of Hamlet as a coward is huge in the whole scheme of the play and it causes nothing but problems for our main character. He tries to avoid direct confrontation by using a play to try to confirm Claudius as his father's killer (III,ii). This deceptive way of gathering information is worded perfectly by Polonius when he says "Through indirections find directions out" (II,i). This cowardice goes hand in hand with Hamlets inability to act because he is not able to execute his plans or even do anything with the information that he knows. We can see this in the chapel scene where Hamlet has the perfect chance to kill Claudius and avenge his father but does not out of fear that Claudius will go to heaven and not hell (III,iii). He had just found out for sure that Claudius killed his father because of his reaction during the play but he was still unable to act. This flaw is causing Hamlet even more turmoil because he can do nothing but sit and brood over his thoughts without taking any action. Hamlet tries to explain his dilemma when he says "Thus conscience does make cowards of us all" (III,i). His true problem is exposed right there, he thinks too much and when he finally does act it ends in tragedy as he ends up killing the wrong person and making his situation even worse than before.

While Hamlet is talking to his mother and verbally abusing her Polonius calls out from his hiding place for help and Hamlet stabs him not knowing who it is (III,iv) . How is this action tragic? Hamlet finally acts but kills the wrong person. "Nay, I know not, is it the King?" Hamlet says to Gertrude. He had hoped