Hamlet - Hero or Not

Running head: HAMLET – HERO OR NOT
Hamlet – Hero or Not
Name of the Student
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Author Note

HAMLET – HERO OR NOT1
Hamlet, also known to the readers as The Tragedy of Hamlet, The Prince of Denmark,
is a tragedy which was written by popular English poet and playwright William Shakespeare
himself. The tragedy tells the readers the story of Prince Hamlet of Denmark, who sought
revenge on his uncle Claudius, for murdering his father and seizing the throne himself, also
trying to marry his mother. The play is said to be the longest of all Shakespearean plays and
also one of his most influential ones. The debate of whether Hamlet is a hero or an anti-hero
had continued for a long time. This is what the readers will analyse for themselves.
The purpose of this essay is to determine the fact whether Hamlet is a hero or not
according to the Act III of the play itself.
In popular literature and media (books, movies, video games etc.) a hero is considered
to be a person whose adventures and life are discussed by the normal people of the country
itself and who lives his life following a code of honour itself. A hero is supposed to be a
character who likes to adventure and never backs down from the face of danger itself. He is a
character who is shown to fight danger and adversity using the qualities of ingenuity, courage
and strength. Other qualities which the hero might possess are knowledge and kindness. All
these are qualities which makes a hero. It is therefore obviously expected therefore, the
actions taken by the heroes will also be full of the qualities which are mentioned above
(Hooti, 2013).
Based on the qualities of a hero already discussed above and the summary of Act III
itself, the readers get the idea that Hamlet meets all the criteria of being a tragic hero or more
specifically, an anti-hero. This is because if several reasons. First when the character of
Hamlet is analysed by the readers themselves, it is seen that Hamlet had only one motive in
his life; to avenge his late father (Goldman, 2014). It is because of this reason in which he
sets the play in the same manner in which his father was killed. This was done deliberately