Prince Hamlet in "Hamlet" by Term Paper

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In this passage, Shakespeare brings into lucidity Hamlet's tragic flaw: as he delayed his plan to avenge his father against Claudius, Hamlet opens an opportunity for the murderer of his father (Claudius) to plan ahead and instead, turn the tables against Hamlet, which eventually results to his death.

It was only at the end of the play that Hamlet redeems himself from his mistakes in life. This is when he achieves "catharsis," the "end or goal of tragedy" (1186). Hamlet finally kills Claudius before he dies himself, and Fortinbras best illustrates his redemption by exulting him by saying, "Let four captains Bear Hamlet like a soldier to the stage, for he was likely, had he been put on, to have proved most royal, and for his passage, the soldiers' music and the rite of war Speak loudly for him" (1345).

Although Oedipus in the play "Oedipus the King" can be likened to Hamlet's character as a tragic hero, he differs from the latter in that Oedipus possesses decisive and stubborn behavior, tragic flaws that led to his blindness and sufferings in life.

Oedipus is a paradox personified in the play, since Sophocles characterizes him as critical of Tiresias' predictions about his future in a remark that will become significant to him later.

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He criticizes Tiresias by saying, "In truth, but not in you! You have no strength, blind in your ears, your reason, and your eyes," which the prophet replies by saying, "Unhappy man! Those jeers you hurl at me before long all these men will hurl at you" (1206-7). From this exchange of lines between Oedipus and Tiresias, it becomes apparent that Tiresias' remark about Oedipus' 'blindness' illustrates the fact that despite Oedipus intelligence and good perception on things is in contrast to his attitude towards the prediction on his fate by the Tiresias. Despite the truthfulness of the prophet's prediction (another irony in the story, since the audience knows the truth and not the characters, leaving Oedipus and his parents unknowing about the things happening to them), Oedipus blindly refused any word of the prophet's statement, and this attitude finally resulted to Oedipus' fall as King of Thebes.

In sum, the character analysis of both Hamlet and Oedipus shows that despite their being tragic heroes, they possess different tragic flaws that led to their downfall. Hamlet's weakness is his indecisiveness, while Oedipus flaw is the opposite of the prince, which is his decisiveness and stubbornness to intervene with fate and change its course.

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