Character Flaws In Hamlet Essay

In both classic and modern literature, characters always seem to have character flaws. A character flaw is an imperfection in a characters judgment or nature that ultimately brings sorrow and destruction. This concept can be displayed in more than one character, and is usually displayed in most of William Shakespeares plays. Hamlet by William Shakespeare has many characters that strongly demonstrate the principal that we are ultimately victims of our own character flaws. Three critical character in the play that completely display a character flaw are Hamlet with his over- thinking nature, Ophelia with her emotional weakness and Polonius with his absolute loyalty to the king.

One of Hamlets most popular character flaws is that he over thinks matters of controversial value, and situations in which actions need to be taken. The most important part of the play, where Hamlet displays his flaw of over thinking matters, is when he is about to kill King Claudius. He ultimately does not go through with the plan, and says that he could not kill Claudius when he was in confessional because then Claudius would go to heaven, and that would not conclude in revenge. Hamlet also demonstrates his flaw when he says That would be scanned,(Shakespeare III.iii.76) which basically means that he wants think more about the situation at hand, before following it through. His nature to over-think matters is considered a tragic flaw, because his decision to put off the murder of Claudius, leads to the death of many characters in the play, including him. Not only does Hamlet miss his opportunity when he scums to his flaw, but he also displays another tragic flaw, which is to procrastinate.

Ophelias character flaw that is displayed is her emotional weakness. Ultimately Ophelias flaw is the reason for her own death, which is what makes it so tragic. One can say that Ophelia is an obedient person, but on a closer analysis, one can see that Ophelia goes beyond obedience. Her actions and thoughts go to show that she is a weak and very dependent character. Ophelias weak nature is displayed through her actions and thoughts, especially when Hamlet basically attacks her, when she tries to return his love tokens. When Hamlet attacks her, Ophelia is not emotionally strong enough to defend herself, instead she pities herself. Ophelias weakness could also be interpreted by the way it seems that she needs someone to depend on, to tell her how to think and act. Ophelia says I do not know, my lord, what I should think, (I.iii.104) and Polonius replies with Marry, Ill teach you: think yourself... (I.iii.105) reveals that Ophelia depends on her father to tell her how to live her life. When Ophelias father Polonius dies, there is no one to tell her how to think and act and she falls into an insane state of mind. Ophelia is incapable of strength which would have allowed her to be independent.

One might say that Polonius is not only loyal to the crown, but that he is also a good and loyal father to his children; Laertes and Ophelia. But that is not the case in the play Hamlet. Polonius only looks out for his own benefit and how he may assemble a good standing with whoever is in power. He would support a corrupt crown, considering that he will be rewarded. It seems that Polonius does care about his son, Laertes; he becomes a paternal figure when he gives advice to Laertes on how to act when he is France, and then afterwards sends Reynaldo to spy on Laertes. But one can see that this is all only for Polonius' own benefit. He does not want Laertes to foul his image, if Polonius has a son with an inferior image, it will also destroy his image in front of the crown. Ultimately Renaldo is sent so that Polonius's image does not come into any harm. You shall do marvellous wisely, good Reynaldo...to make inquire of his behaviour (II.i.3-5), this passage reveals that Polonius must know what type of image Laertes is displaying in France, Polonius must make sure that his name will not be dragged in the mud, if Laertes is doing the same with his own name. Polonius flaw can be considered tragic because his loyal attribute allows the audience to relate to him, but unlike some people he is loyal to the wrong person, he is loyal to a corrupt king. His loyalty ultimately leads to death, when he is eavesdropping on Hamlet and Queen Gertrudes conversation; he is doing it for the King to learn the reason for Hamlets madness. He starts crying out for help, when Gertrude is in possible danger, because of his loyalty to the king and the queen he is stabbed to death.

Hamlet, Ophelia and Polonius all have character flaws that after a considerable amount of time led to their deaths. Hamlet's character flaw was to over thinking matters, which made him lose his chance of revenge and allowed conspiracy to develop that ended his life. Ophelia was too weak and circumstances had isolated her from all of her loved ones with no one to lean on, she fell into a vulnerable state of mind and ultimately led to her death. Polonius was loyal, but not for the right reason or to the right characters, his loyalty also led to his death. William Shakespeare is a world renowned writer that had the ability to imagine characters with imperfections that the audience would sympathize with. Like William Shakespeare's Hamlet, tragic literature from the past and present use character flaws as a way for the audience to relate.