Open Prompt Part 2

2003. According to critic Northrop Frye, “Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divisive lightning.” Select a novel or play in which a tragic figure functions as an instrument of the suffering of others. Then write an essay in which you explain how the suffering brought upon others by that figure contributes to the tragic vision of the work as a whole.

In Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, Hamlet is a perfect tragic hero. He is of noble birth and his tragic flaw is his inability to make decisions which is exacerbated by his isolation. Because of his tragic flaw, Ophelia is driven to commit suicide, his mother, uncle and Laertes are all killed, and his kingdom is to be run by a foreigner. Hamlet is made a tragic work by Hamlet because his tragic flaw eventually brings down the kingdom and everyone in it.

Hamlet begins with the pivotal moment that turns Hamlet into a tragic hero. His father, King Hamlet, has died and comes back to Hamlet as a ghost and tells him that Claudius, the king's brother, murdered him and Hamlet must get revenge. This sets up Hamlet's single task that dominates the entirety of the play. Hamlet has all kinds of power and prestige, but he cannot accomplish this simple task.

The first person who Hamlet causes to suffer is his girlfriend, Ophelia. He knows that Claudius and Polonius will use her to get to Hamlet, so he curses her and says he never wants to see her again. He then stabs her father when Polonius is spying on him and Gertrude, because he thinks Polonius is Claudius. Ophelia is possibly pregnant at this time and her father has been killed and she goes insane and drowns herself. Hamlet caused this by killing Polonius and being incredibly awful to her. The death of Polonius and Ophelia also causes an incredible amount of suffering for Laertes.

Hamlet causes the suffering of his entire country in the end. Because of the deaths of Ophelia and Polonius, Laertes does what Hamlet cannot; takes his revenge. He battles Hamlet, using a poisoned sword and poisoned wine. The wine kills Gertrude and the sword kills Claudius, Hamlet, and Laertes. This allows Fortinbras to overtake Elsinore because everyone who has a claim to the throne is dead.

If Hamlet had been decisive enough to immediately kill Claudius, he would not have led to the destruction of his entire family and girlfriend. He had all the tools he needed and had several opportunities to do the deed, but he was unable to do it.