Hamlet Essay #2

In many stories you here about the epic hero saving the day over and over again but eventually they are faced with the challenge of their own self destruction.  Along with the hero comes his flaw or downfall which he himself can’t seem to realize he has. What makes Hamlet so different from a character like Beowulf is that he is so concerned with himself and the choices he is making that he is his biggest self critique.  The way that he presents his thoughts to us in passages such as his soliloquy of To Be or not to be, shows us that he is looking for mistakes he has made and is looking for a way to fix them and fix future ones.

            Throughout the story Hamlet is constantly questioning his own decisions and thinking.  He plays through the events that have unfolded before him and asks him if he is following the right path.  He might not have chosen the right one since his choices eventually lead to his death but the way he presents his thoughts fives us a good idea of what he intends to do.  In stories such as Beowulf and Julius Caesar the hero of the story has no idea what is happening because of their own inner flaws.   They never show us what they are thinking about, only the actions that are currently taking place.  Hamlet uses a unique style of language in that he is constantly thinking about his own thinking.

            Another aspect of Hamlet’s use of language is that he never holds anything back from the reader.  You constantly know what he intends to do with his next move and how he is going to execute it.  He provides a lot of dramatic irony because only himself and the reader know what is going on but the other characters have no idea.  His language even differentiates him from other characters within the play.  Other characters don’t provide you with what they know like Hamlet is able to and it makes him a very unique character among many.

            Hamlet’s character utilizes his own self reflection to overcome his flaws and in the end he may have been killed but he accomplished his overall goal.  His use of language provides the reader with the experience of his own thoughts about himself and not others.  This is what makes Hamlet so different from other epic heroes.

A.J. Franklin
Period2