The Tragic Hero Archetype in Hamlet

This week, the author Jackson Pierce came to speak to us about archetypes and the various molds that characters in novels may fall into. During her presentation, I was contemplating the relevance of Hamlet’s role as an archetype, and what he truly represents as an individual in the play… which could be several, considering how complex his character is and how it encompasses so many diverse notions. For one, Hamlet can be rendered as the tragic hero in the play (which is a tragedy) for numerous reasons that pertain to his characters nature and the conflicts (internal and external) that he endures throughout.

At the beginning of the play, Hamlet is presented with an extremely burdensome, exacting, and tough task that visibly takes a toll on Hamlet's sanity and reason. He must face the decision of killing his uncle in an act of vengeance for the sake of his late father. However, for the first two Acts, we see Hamlet struggle with the thought of killing Claudius, his uncle, whom he considers to be a "bloody, bawdy villain” (2.2.607). Despite the fact that Hamlet undoubtedly possesses the profound ambition and motive to carry out this grueling responsibility, he cannot get past his encumbering thoughts and reasoning. It is Hamlet’s vast intelligence and hesitance that gets the best of him, and prevents his powerful emotions from overriding his conscience. Thus, in Hamlet’s character, we can clearly detect a hint of uncertainty and doubt which deeply troubles Hamlet as he becomes torn between his righteous fate and his moral obligation to his uncle.

Like a typical tragic hero, he embarks on a quest to avenge his father’s death, as he must make a tough decision that holds no insight for what the future may hold. Essentially, Hamlet’s fate and predetermined destiny is his tragic flaw that further shapes him as a tragic hero, and what will ultimately be the premise of his death. The concept of the tragic hero archetype usually consists of a character who undergoes a “change of fortune,” which in this case, would be the late King Hamlet’s ghost imparting Hamlet with the duty of avenging his death, which completely alters Hamlet’s life from “good to bad.” Moreover, according to Aristotle, a tragic hero is one who has committed a “great wrong leading to his misfortune,” which for Hamlet, might be the secret love affair between Ophelia and him (which may have resulted in Ophelia’s pregnancy). Also, the tragic hero must also encounter some free choice, in which he must “choose one course of action over another.” In Hamlet, Hamlet’s free choice is deciding whether or not to kill Claudius. He must make the ultimate decision on his own, and what he ultimately chooses to do will determine whether or not the play will end in his demise.

So far in this play, we have come across many aspects of the tragic hero archetype that are applicable to the character of Hamlet in Shakespeare’s play. I am anxious to read the rest of the play in order to see how the tragic hero archetype manifests itself throughout the rest of the play.