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Comparison Of Hamlet's Hamartia

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Hamartia is a character defect or flaw that brings about the downfall of a tragic hero, usually resulting from excessive pride or another virtue (Cook). In William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Hamlet’s hamartia is essentially his inability to act or indecisiveness, and inability to consolidate his thoughts and actions, which is often misconstrued as he holds on to his past. This flaw can be seen through his incapability of committing suicide, inability to come to terms with his father’s death, putting on a play to delay killing his uncle Claudius and the inability to kill Claudius while he is praying. It is obvious that Hamlet chooses not to act, and this is his tragic flaw. In Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman’s hamartia …show more content…

He is never able to see his real self and imagines himself as someone successful and indispensable, while in reality, he is a failure. The characters of Hamlet and Willy Loman will be examined to highlight the similarity in their personas, specifically, the traits they possess and the intrusion of their past that are pivotal in the outcome of their fate as tragic heroes. To begin, the most important tragic flaw of Hamlet’s is his unwillingness to let go of his past, which in turn controls his fate. Hamlet’s father is killed by Claudius, his uncle, to marry his mother Gertrude, which drives Hamlet and his need to avenge his father’s death throughout the play. Hamlet is unable to let go of this desire which consumes his thoughts, which will not disappear until it is fulfilled. Hamlet returns to Denmark, prompted by the urge to avenge his father’s death. Hamlet continues to struggle with the death of his father when he …show more content…

Willy’s past contained more happiness and success, which is why he tends to cling on to it. Willy uses the past as a distraction to cope with the difficulties he is experiencing in the present. The past is Willy’s escape; however, what Willy does not realize is that his past is contributing to his destruction. Willy Loman thinks too much of himself being a successful at work, his children loving him, and his family being perfect, instead of what is going on in the present. To illustrate, as Willy begins to fall asleep, his memory shifts to a time where he is being cheered on by people, referring to him as “God Almighty”. As the play narrates “Loman, Loman! God Almighty, he’ll be great yet. A star like that, magnificent, can never really fade away!” (Miller 68). This quote is talking about the success of his son Biff in the past, showing how he is not able to let go of the past and see his son the way he really is. Here, it is evident that Willy has retrieved back to his past to seek comfort and solace with the reality of his present.. Willy finds comfort by thinking of how his life used to be in the past to cope with his troubles in the present. As Ronald Hayman stated in “Death of a Salesman”, “[his] madness is linked with a nostalgia for the better times in the past”(Death of a Salesman). This quote explains the reasoning behind Willy’s unwillingness to let go of the

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