Texas Southern University How Is Hamlet a Hero or Isn He Discussion

I’m working on a literature report and need a sample draft to help me understand better.

Last Paper: How is Hamlet a Hero? . . . or isn’t he?

Hamlet is obviously “the hero” of the play that bears his name. But there’s a problem: By the end of Act I, he has a straightforward job to do: avenge his father’s murder. It may not be simple—he is the King, after all—but Hamlet has a motive and, as we will find out, he also develops the means and the opportunity.

But the play is five acts long, and Hamlet’s job isn’t finished until the end of that fifth act. Before he completes his task he will have done considerable damage to the lives of several other people—his mother, his girlfriend, his girlfriend’s dad, and several old pals—who, while not totally innocent, don’t deserve all the pain he puts them through.

Your task, then, is to convince us that Hamlet is not only the hero of Hamlet but is also truly heroic. Using only evidence from the play itself—that’s all the evidence there is, really—shows how Hamlet really deserves to be considered a hero.

Length : 800-1000 words

Due : 11:59 PM Monday, May 3

Here are a few ways of thinking about the topic that may give you a kick-start:

Reasons why Hamlet may be considered UNheroic: It takes him until the end of Act 5 to get the job done, and even then he only does it after the King has already brought about Hamlet’s own death. He himself is responsible for several other deaths, either indirectly (Ophelia, Gertrude) or directly (Polonius, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern, Laertes). None of these people really deserves to die, and very likely none of them would have if it hadn’t been for Hamlet. He publicly humiliates Ophelia and his mother in the Play scene, screams at both of them about what sluts they are and makes Ophelia’s funeral all about how upset HE is. He is mopey and self-dramatizing much of the time, and what does he even get by pretending to be crazy?

Some possible approaches to the Hamlet prompt: 1. He really IS a hero because despite his [failures/drawbacks/flaws] he does something important; 2. He is a hero because of his truly heroic qualities; 3. He is a hero because he shows us the true meaning of heroism; 4. He’s not a hero, but not because of these obvious reasons; it’s because; 5. He’s not a hero because heroism is no longer possible in his world; 6. He’s not a hero but that doesn’t matter because he is [something just as good as or better than being a hero]. In other words, USE the prompt to think about heroism—how would Achilles or Aeneas or Beowulf have handled the situation he finds himself in? If they would have