Hamlet's Fatal Flaw Essay Example

A tragic hero, is by Aristotle's definition, a man who at the height of his own power, falls due to a personal flaw. Shakespeare uses this character template for all of his tragedies, except for his last and arguably greatest, Hamlet.  The titular character of the play does not conform with the Aristotelian template, and appears far more complex and even paradoxical than Shakespeare’s other characters. While many questions the play proposes are unanswered, the most glaring question is “WHat is Hamlet’s flaw?” The answer to this question at first seems that it is an inability to act, but this flaw, upon a closer study of Hamlet’s own self-reflection, is his belief that he has a flaw at all. 

The play begins with the appearance of the ghost of King Hamlet, young Hamlet’s father, and the proclamation that Claudius killed him. After Hamlet is brought to see the ghost and learn of this, he is distraught. Hamlet quickly recovers from his sorrows however, and devises a plan to ensnare Claudius into admitting guilt. The prince’s plan is a success, as he overhears Claudius confessing the sin while in prayer. “Oh, my offence is rank. It smells to heaven / It hath the primal eldest curse upon ’t, / A brother’s murder.” (Hamlet. III.3.35-40). Hamlet does not murder Claudius immediately upon hearing this however, and instead says that he should catch him in a state of mortal sin, so as to send him to hell. Claudius, fearing for his life, decides to send Hamlet to England, and arrange to have him put to death there. Hamlet, getting news of this plan, confronts his mother, Gertrude, who has married Claudius. This brief confrontation ends with Hamlet stabbing through a curtain into who he thought was Claudius, but was actually Polonius. From this act and onward, the play begins to spiral downwards, ending in a rigged duel orchestrated by Claudius between Laertes, Polonius’ son, and Hamlet. This duel ends not only in the deaths of Hamlet and Laertes, but in Gertrude and the King’s as well.

Hamlet’s refusal to immediately kill Claudius is an extraordinary display of reasonableness. Hamlet does not wish to kill an innocent man, and he fears that the ghost may be a demon luring him to sin. This very simple moral basis and logicality is astounding to find in a tragic hero, and changes many aspects of the play. However, due to the many opportunities to kill the King which he disregarded, Hamlet is annoyed with himself and what he believes to be his flaw. To compensate, the prince makes the rash decision to stab into the curtain that hid Polonius. In Hamlet’s attempt to fix himself,  he caused the first truly tragic action of the play, the repercussions of which would lead to his death. 

By the end of the play, Hamlet is responsible for the deaths of Claudius, Polonius, Laertes, and Gertrude. In refusing to drink the wine poisoned by the King first, Hamlet causes the death of Gertrude. By cutting Laertes with the sword Laertes himself poisoned, Hamlet causes his death as well. The death of Claudius is the only death of the play which Hamlet intends. Driven by his fury, Hamlet runs Claudius through with his poisoned sword, and forces him to drink the poisoned wine. It is at this point in the play where Hamlet learns the correct moderation between passionate action and reasonableness. 

While one may be tempted to say that one quality without the other is a flaw, In Hamlet’s case this does not appear to be true. Passion is a quality Hamlet lacked until the scene of Claudius death, as the killing of Polonius was not true passion, but rather a forced action. Hamlet’s reasonableness was not a flaw, as it always brought about good outcomes until his attempted correction of it. Hamlet’s true fatal flaw was his worry that he had a flaw at all.