Hamlet - Hero or villain?

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Hamlet comes across as both a hero and a villain throughout ‘Hamlet’ at different intervals. Hamlet is a hero as he uses his cunning and pretends to be mad, he takes revenge for his Father, and he dies unpretentiously. However, Hamlet is also a villain as he lies to his friends, break Ophelia’s heart, leading her to madness and eventually suicide, and he cowardly postpones killing Claudius, despite the fact that Claudius killed his own Father.

The madness Hamlet seems to have only surfaces in the presence of particular people, such as Gertrude, Claudius, Polonius and Ophelia. Yet, around Horatio, the grave-diggers, Bernardo and the players his disposition is less than ‘antic’. This leads to questioning whether or not his madness is real- if it is, he lies to his friends and family, is extremely manipulative traits which could only be described as villainous.

The characters pick up on the fact that Hamlet’s madness may not be genuine, they talk of how he can ‘feign madness’ ‘feign’ means to pretend therefore the language could only be suggesting that Hamlet is pretending to be mad. Guildernstern talks of Hamlet having a ‘crafty madness’, a synonym of crafty being ‘sly’ or ‘devious’, this is indicating that the madness may not be as innocent as it may seem. Hamlet’s madness may be more complex than it appears. Polonius talks of the fact that ‘ Though this be madness, yet there is madness in’t’ this is another rather direct reference to Hamlet’s madness not being all that it seems and this passing remark seems to be for the audiences benefit rather than the characters in the scene. The language is an indication that there may be madness, as the emphasis could be centred around the ‘though’, a acknowledgment that this is indeed madness, but the use of the word ‘yet’ suggests the comment has been pondered. The statement is a definite one; Polonius does not say that there could be method in it, but that ‘there is method in’t’. Hamlet may have been pretending in the beginning, but as time goes on the madness seems to overtake his rational thinking. This could suggest that he is a tragic hero or a villainous manipulator.

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The most intricate side of Hamlet’s personality is his ability to hide his feelings, yet he manages to let them known to the audience, be it through monologue or dialogue or through basic insinuation. One of the foremost important instruments he uses in exhibiting these feelings is by using his wit. On various occasions, Hamlet uses his wit to relieve tension or to disguise his own feelings. The first time it become apparent Hamlet is putting up a pretence and hiding his feelings is through a monologue stating his opinion on Gertrude and Claudius’ relationship, in which he says ...

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