The story of Hamlet, a prince whose father was killed by his uncle and then called upon his son to avenge on him, was known to the reader long before William Shakespeare used to create his best-known tragedy. However, he was definitely the author who managed to shift the key attention of the audience from the tragedy of circumstances to the tragedy of true human feelings. But what makes Hamlet a truly tragic character?
The tragedy of Hamlet is not the tragedy of death. Although the prince is mesmerized by its mystery, he is not afraid of it. Even if the death of a person is tragic, according to Shakespeare’s opinion, the real tragedy lies in the moral decay of a human being, which leads to the slippery path of self-destruction. Hamlet is the person of extraordinary positive features. However, he is deeply disappointed in people, as he has seen the betrayal and the murders of those who were important for him. As he looses his faith in people, he also loses love and the real value of life. Pretending to be mad, he balances on a very thin borderline between the reality and a deep psychosis, which results from the understanding of how sinful human nature can be.
In this way, the real tragedy of Hamlet is the extraordinary morality of his character. If he was like the other characters of the play, he could get used to the world of evil, pretending, cheating, adapting to the circumstances. This is absolutely impossible for him, but he does not know how to fight the evil and how to beat it. So, he is doomed to death due to his honesty, sensitivity and idealism.