Hamlet's Heroic Status
English Lit: OCR A Level - Hamlet, topic 3.1.2
Hamlet's Heroic Status
For his tragedy to succeed, Shakespeare had to provide his hero with a heroic status.
Respect for Hamlet
- Hamlet is respected by his subjects.
- Claudius speaks of “the great love” the public have for him.
- Ophelia sees him as the epitome of the renaissance man when she describes him as possessing, “The courtier’s, soldier’s, scholar’s eye, tongue, sword”.
Hamlet's range of skills
- Ophelia’s praise for Hamlet’s mastery of different roles (“courtier… soldier… scholar”) also portrays him as a complex character with a dazzling array of skills and talents.
- He is an intellectual, a “scholar” who has just returned from the prestigious university of Wittenberg, but also a “soldier” who we later see demonstrating his skill with a sword: a man of thought and action.
Reactions to Hamlet's death
- Ophelia may be biased, swayed by Hamlet’s romantic interest in her, but her judgement is echoed by other characters in the play, notably by Fortinbras’ judgement that, had he lived, he would “have proved most royal”.
- Hamlet’s death creates a tragic sense of waste that such a man is destined to never succeed to the throne.
Test yourself on Hamlet's Heroic Status
What does Fortinbras say of Hamlet after his death?