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Why is Hamlet considered a great tragedy?
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Hamlet is considered a great tragedy because it features a tragic hero, Hamlet, who is plagued by indecision and impulsiveness, leading to his downfall and the deaths of many characters. The play embodies the classic struggle between good and evil, with Hamlet representing good intentions and Claudius representing evil. Ultimately, it ends with widespread death and no sense of victory, fulfilling the tragic elements of Shakespearean drama.
A Shakespearean tragedy begins with a tragic hero. In Hamlet, the title character himself is this hero of sorts. His fatal flaw is up for debate, but certainly a strong contender is his inability to act quickly. He ponders killing Claudius to avenge the death of his father for scene after scene, but he can never seem to find just the right moment or just enough courage to carry through. He does, sadly, accidentally kill Polonius in error, which is a tragedy in itself.
Shakespearean tragedies also center around the classic good versus evil battle. Hamlet represents the forces of (fairly) good intentions, seeking to do as the ghost of his father asks. (In fact, there is a good versus evil battle that rages within Hamlet regarding what he should do.) Claudius represents evil, having killed his brother and quickly taken Gertrude , his own former sister-in-law, as his...
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bride. His ambition is his downfall, and eventually he and Hamlet both die, leaving (it seems)Fortinbras to become king.
This leads to another quality of Shakespearean tragedies: the good guys don't win, and things end poorly for everyone. In this case, Ophelia (the truly innocent) dies. Hamlet dies. His mother dies. Some of his friends die. Claudius dies. There is no real sense of victory or a wonderfully happy sense of closure. The play ends with lots of promise and wasted youth littering the stage as the result of evil intentions which are met with promises of revenge, creating a truly tragic visual representation of all that has been lost.
My initial reaction is that you will find many different answers to this question. From my own point of view, I think one reason why Hamlet can be considered a tragedy is that there is little in terms of happy ending present. Everyone dies, either at their own hand or at someone else's. There is little in way of redemption offered to the characters. Those who might have been happy at the start of the play end up suffering in misery by the end and those who were unfortunate at the start end up acquiring more pain and suffering. The reader themselves can only feel some level of solace in making a commitment to not live their own lives like the characters in the work. I would say that part of the tragedy inherent is that characters' greatest strength result in their own downfall. Hamlet's ability to perceive and deduce is what ends up preventing him from taking action and causes him even more agony. Ophelia's trust and sensitivity towards others does not afford her a buffer or distance from the manipulation of others and Hamlet's cruelty. In these lights, I would see the play as one of great or intense tragedy.