Hamlet. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the audience may perceive the main player to be nave and sympathise with him due to this shortcoming.

  Furthermore, it may be argued that typical Shakespearean heroes have outstanding qualities compromised by one fundamental and tragic flaw which eventually leads to their downfall – in Hamlet’s case his naivety.  For example, Hamlet seemed committed to revenge his father’s ‘most unnatural murder’ but procrastinated and feared the repercussions:

        ‘I do not know why yet I live to say ‘This thing’s to do,’ sith I have cause, and

        will, and strength, and means to do’t’

Hamlet here arouses the audience’s sympathy through his continuous procrastination and also through his naïve perception of the world.  Shakespeare successfully depicts Hamlet as the victim in this situation by continually reminding the audience of his inability to cope with the moral dilemma he is faced with.  This effectively evokes the audience’s sympathy and also further polarises Claudius and the other antagonists from vulnerable Hamlet.

  Arguably, the main focus of the play is Hamlet’s struggle to resolve within himself to exact revenge for his father’s ‘most unnatural murder’ and to cope with his predicament.  This is illustrated through his philosophical debate in the famous ‘To be or not to be’ soliloquy: ‘Thus conscience does make cowards of us all’.  Again, Shakespeare conveys Hamlet’s naïve nature through his deliberation of his actions (or inactions).  Shakespeare also effectively evokes sympathy for Hamlet through his genuine ability to cope with the moral dilemma and in conveying another important them of the afterlife.

  Furthermore, Hamlet’s unpretentious nature is also conveyed through his genuine love for Ophelia; perhaps it can be seen as wreckless of him to continue their open relationship even when Polonius, Ophelia’s father and Claudius’ ally, shuns their love.  Shakespeare further induces the audience’s sympathy for Hamlet when he professes his love for her at her funeral:

‘I loved Ophelia; forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up my sum.’

The audience’s sympathy for Hamlet is augmented through this genuine declaration of love by the graveside of love by the graveside and is then furthered by his more mature reaction to her death in contrast to Laertes’ overdramatic performance when he leaps into her grave; Hamlet is now more mature and more independent than he was at the start. This change in character makes the audience align with Hamlet instead of his counterparts and also recapitulates the polarisation of sympathetic and unsympathetic players.  Shakespeare here successfully arouses sympathy for Hamlet through his change in character and also reinforces the alignment of the audience for the denouement.  Also, all of the main players are gathered around death in this scene, foreshadowing what is to come and building up to a climax.

  In addition, Hamlet’s naivety is further emphasised by the characterisation of Laertes; Laertes acts more like a typical revenge hero and is therefore seen as a foil to him.  Laertes brushes aside all of the moral hurdles that have been preventing the protagonist from revenging his father’s death.  Shakespeare encapsulates this dramatic function through Hamlet himself:  ‘For by the image of my cause, I see the portraiture of his.’  Shakespeare skillfully crafts Hamlet so he himself realises his faults, intensifying the audience’s compassion for him and successfully conveying the main theme of revenge and retribution.

  In conclusion, the naivety of prince Hamlet plays a significant part in conveying the main themes of revenge, misogyny and appearance versus reality.  Despite his tragic infirmity, Shakespeare successfully manages to create a degree of sympathy of the prince in order to align the audience’s reaction to the main themes and the play as a whole.