Hamlet - Hero or Villain?

teotihuacan

Preparing my essay here, and just wondering how you guys would approach it and what main points you'd hit on. Im just trying to see if there are any other interesting angles this essay could be approached from?

Dannnnn

You can say he was both, in the sense that, his intentions could've been heroic, however you could vilify how he executed these intentions.

teotihuacan

yeah, thats how im going to approach it. Thanks, i was just interested to see if others would do it that way too! :P

Solus01

I would go through the most important scenes in order i.e Act I Scene II (Hamlet is portrayed as a hero as he is willing to take on his task), Act III Scene I-Nunnery Scene (His villainous characteristics are seen here because of his treatment of Opehlia), Act III Scene II-Mousetrap Scene (Shows heroic traits as he gains a moral victory over Claudius), Act III Scene III-Prayer Scene (Reverts back to being a villain as we learn of how he wants Claudius to suffer in death but also how his hesitation suggests he is shying away from his task which is not what a hero would do), Act III Scene IV-Closet Scene (His is again conveyed asa villain due to his harsh treatment of his mother and his killing of Polonius) and finally Act V Scene I & II (Hamlet's return from his sea voyage has changed him and he is now more hero than villain and he accepts the fencing match with Laertes and also gets his revenge on Claudius. He also dies in a calm, honourable manner which is another trait of a courageous hero). I included lots of qoutes from the text to back up my point.
Hope this helps.!