Hamlet an Antihero

Significance of Antiheroic element

Definition of Antihero

An antihero is a main character in a story who

does not exhibit the typical heroic qualities such

as bravery, courage, morality and especially the

desire to accomplish better goals. Despite being

an antihero, he would still be a protagonist of

the narrative who stands as a striking contrast to

the traditional hero archetype.

Origin of the word

The word antihero has been derived

from Greek, where the prefix “anti”

means “against” and the word “hero”

means a “protector / defender.”

Understanding an Antihero

An Antihero is deemed to be the protagonist in the story. Even if the audience does not agree with his actions, the audience is supposed to understand the antihero’s motivations and sympathize with this character.

COMMON EXAMPLESHere are the famous recent examples of antiheroes in film and television:

•Taylor Durden from “Fight Club”•Captain Jack Sparrow from “Pirates of the• Caribbean”•Don Draper from “Mad Men”•Gregory House from “House”•Walter White from “Breaking Bad”•Michael Scott from “The Office”•Hannah Horvath from “Girls”

In Ancient Greek drama, there have been many examples of antihero though the term “antihero” was first used in the early 1700s. The rise of popularity in using antiheroes as the protagonist of a story parallels the rise of literary realism, in which authors attempted to portray life as it really is instead of in an idealized way. Literary realism as a genre became popular in the mid-1800s and remained so for many decades. Characters more flawed and more realistic accompanied by the faithful representation of reality displayed in this style. Even as authors have moved into subsequent literary movements the trend of antihero as protagonist remains popular throughout the world. It is rather easy for an audience to relate to an antihero because they are imperfect human beings.

Significance of Antihero in Literature

Hamlet: AntiheroHAMLET: To be, or not to be, that is the question:

Whether ’tis Nobler in the mind to suffer

The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune,

Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep

No more; and by a sleep, to say we end

The Heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocks

That Flesh is heir to? ‘Tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep,

To sleep, perchance to Dream; aye, there’s the rub,

For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come,

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause. (Hamlet by William Shakespeare)

Hamlet’s most famous speech from William Shakespeare’s eponymous tragedy indicates his status as an antihero.

The central drama from the play is that Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius, has killed Hamlet’s father, married Hamlet’s mother, and assumed the throne of Denmark. Hamlet wants to enact revenge on Claudius, but is too contemplative and cautious to act at first. He is also consumed with thoughts of suicide and of the after-life, as we can infer from the above quote. When Hamlet finally does act, he does so rashly and erratically, and fails to achieve what he means to do though bravery or with noble intentions.

Hamlet’s inactionHamlet wraps up his conversation with the captain. He hangs back from the others marching to the ship and delivers a long soliloquy on the irony of this occasion that these men are off to risk their lives for a worthless piece of land, while he, who has every reason to risk his life in the cause of revenge, delays and fails to act. Hamlet resolves to recast his mind to bloody thoughts (Oh, from this time forth, My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!) To be truly great doesn’t mean you’d only fight for a good reason. It means you’d fight over nothing if your honor was at stake. So where does that leave me, whose father has been murdered and mother defiled, ignoring these mental and emotional provocations and letting well enough alone?

The basic position of Hamlet is one of bewilderment that these soldiers can go off to their deaths over a patch of worthless ground while he, who has every reason to rage and war and battle Claudius, is introspective and melancholy, and chokes off his action with excessive contemplation. He remarks, “Rightly to be great / Is not to stir without great argument, / But greatly to find quarrel in a straw / When honor’s at the stake.” In other words, the greatness of man comes not with the greatness of an occasion, but with treating any occasion, however petty, as an occasion for greatness. One should not overthink, but do.

Hamlet blamed his mother not just for betraying his father, but for his own birth. Motivated by present circumstances, an Oedipal impulse or his religious beliefs, Hamlet has put all the sins of the world on his mother. His father is dead because Claudius killed him to get her. He must now avenge his father because he exists thanks to his mother. In this sequence, Shakespeare reveals that at least part of the reason Hamlet has been delaying action is that he's been moved to take revenge on the wrong person.

Exploring Hamlet’s state of mindIn the play, Hamlet is described as an intelligent, emotional, and grief-stricken protagonist who is consumed by his own thoughts which make him a highly-indecisive individual. Hamlet’s inability to act on his father’s murder, his mother’s hasty remarriage, and his uncle assuming of the throne are all evidence that Hamlet does not know what is going on in his own life. Perhaps Hamlet wants to place the blame on someone else after he wreaks vengeance on King Claudius, or capture the attention of certain characters so that he may find out exactly what has gone “rotten in Denmark” (Act 1, Scene 5, Line 90).

Hamlet

In-decisive

rash

Inability to act on his

father’s murder

Wreaks vengeance on Claudius

Thinking processes of HamletHamlet was a grief-stricken protagonist who is consumed by his own thoughts which make him a highly-indecisive individual. Hamlet’s inability to act on his father’s murder, his mother’s hasty remarriage, and his uncle assuming of the throne are all evidence that Hamlet does not know what is going on in his own life . Probably Hamlet wants to place the blame on someone else after he wreaks vengeance on King Claudius so that he may find out exactly what has gone “rotten in Denmark” (Act 1, Scene 5, Line 90).  Throughout the play Hamlet is deeply hurt by his mother’s decision to remarry his uncle.

As Hamlet says, “Frailty thy name is woman”, her actions cause Hamlet to curse women all together (Act 1, Scene 2, Line 146). Clearly, Hamlet’s concern for the Queen, his mother, is due to his genuine association to the death of King Hamlet. Within this solitary thought, Hamlet realizes the severity of his mother’s actions while also attempting to rationalize her mentality so that he may understand in an attempt to cope with the untimely nature of the Queen’s marriage to Claudius. Understandably, Hamlet is disturbed. Gertrude causes such confusion in Hamlet that throughout the play, he constantly wonders how it could be possible that events would turn out the way they did.  Contd….

His black mourning clothes represent his deep rooted unhappiness. The audience is

always being included in Hamlet’s thinking process through the use of soliloquies. The

soliloquies spoken by Hamlet are directed to the audience, rather than seeming like

conversations with himself.

In the first soliloquy (Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 129-159), Hamlet talks about

how aggravated at life he is and that if it weren’t for God’s laws he would commit

suicide. He is not really mourning his father’s death in this soliloquy but more his

disgust for his mother for marrying his uncle especially within a short span of time

after his father’s death. He then goes to explain that he must remain silent. He

explains to the audience that nothing can undo the situation to make it any better.

This soliloquy ignites an interest in the audience and provides a glimpse into Hamlet’s

thoughts while informing of the history of his family’s tribulations.

Hamlet finds a universe of variety within his own mind. He not only explores the world from many perspectives but searches many questions. He resolves all but resolves nothing. As noted before, Hamlet’s mind seems to work as an intense magnifying glass of sorts. He looks at one subject say, the gravedigger’s macabre humor and scrutinizes it to exhaustion before turning to another say, the nature of mortality as occasioned by the discovery of Yorick’s skull and treating it with a similar thoroughness.

The variety of his curiosity is matched by depth of penetration. He is both wide-ranging and profound which is truly a Renaissance mind.

Hamlet’s motifs

Conscience

Birth and Death

Time spanPower

Poison suicide

Madness

Revenge

Dirt

Incest

Violence

The bloody ending scene

Truth vs uncertainty

Hamlet’s MelancholyFrom the outset out of the play, Hamlet has been marked as a melancholy man. Apparently this had not been his previous character, for the king has spoken of it as "Hamlet's transformation." This change in him was brought about by brooding on the events that had just happened, and had been not only a mental but especially a moral reaction.

Hamlet is depicted as having a very sensitive and a very moral nature. He had been greatly shocked by the things that had happened, and the suspicions he harbored posed a direct challenge to his moral faith. If the truth was as he feared, then there was occasion to question the righteousness and justice of the world, and to wonder if life were worth living. This, apparently, was Hamlet's first encounter with great trouble, with the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, and it proved a great trial to his moral nature.

His confidence in the moral government of the world was shaken, and his moral faith was shattered. Everything that was most dear to him had apparently been forsaken of heaven, and he was left to struggle on alone. Under these adverse circumstances he wishes he were dead, and exclaims against the world:"How weary, stale, flat and unprofitableSeem to me all the uses of this world!“ (I. ii. 133-4.)This, then, is Hamlet's melancholy. It is the melancholy of the philosophical mind, and is induced by the evils into the midst of which his young life is suddenly plunged. The course of the play discloses his efforts to overcom his doubts and to regain his native faith in God and in goodness and to correct the wrongs about him Contd….

The greatness of his mind and character is revealed when he soon recovers from the first rude shock, and holding his faith in the ultimate victory of truth and right, he concludes that "It is not, nor it cannot come to good." (I. ii. 158.) Never again does he allow himself to fall into the slough of despond, but through darkness and light he holds to his faith in right.

REFERENCES

1. www.literarydevices.com

2. Exploring Hamlet’s State of Mind : www.123helpme.com

3. No fear Shakespeare:www.nfs.sparknotes.com

4. www.gradesaver.com

5. www.mindmeister.com6. Hamlet's Melancholy: The Transformation of the PrinceFrom Hamlet, an ideal prince, and other essays in Shakesperean interpretation: Hamlet; Merchant of Venice; Othello; King Lear by Alexander W. Crawford.

7.hyperion2satyr.blogspot.in