Hamlet's Tragic Flaw

Shakespeare’s Hamlet is his own worst enemy. This is due to his procrastination and his inability to act to avenge his father’s death. Another character in Hamlet that displays hamartia is Polonius, who interferes in everyone’s affairs. Hamlet’s hamartia is his indecisiveness and Polonius’ tragic flaw is interference. Two scenes that create catharsis, is the death of Polonius and the swordfight at the end of the play. The flaws of these gentlemen are what lead to the death of not only themselves but many others.
“To be or not to be” (Shakespeare) defines Hamlet to perfection and it is this flaw in his character that leads to his demise. Hamlet demonstrates many times throughout the play of his inability to act. At the beginning of the
play he fakes madness to buy himself time to plan Claudius’ murder which is seen in the following passage:
“… How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself
(As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
To put an antic disposition on),
That you, at such times seeing me, never shall—
With arms encumbered thus, or this headshake,
Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase…” (1.5.190-195)
This is typical Hamlet; he wants time to think and plan out his revenge on his uncle.
When Hamlet finally takes action and kill Claudius, he rushes in to do the deed, but finds Claudius praying and decides to wait. He next gets the chance to kill Claudius at the end of his swordfight with Laertes, but it is too late for him as he’s been poisoned by Laertes’s sword. Hamlet does get his revenge and by doing so receives the catharsis he needed. “Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damnèd Dane, Drink off this potion. Is thy union here? Follow my mother (5.2.356-358). Finally, Hamlet has acted and avenged his father’s murder.
Polonius’ tragic flaw is his intrusiveness and this leads to death of himself, Laertes, and Ophelia. He spends the most of the play interfering in his children’s lives, Hamlet’s, and the king and queen. While he may be a royal adviser, he plays the others like puppets and skulks about eavesdropping. Polonius seems to enjoy being meddlesome. One example is how he demands that Ophelia stay away from Hamlet. As seen in the following passage he is adamant.
“…This is for all:
I would not, in plain terms, from this time
forth,
Have you so slander any moment leisure,
As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
Look to’t, I charge you...” (1.3.140-144).
Polonius must suspect that Hamlet sees through him and is too speculative of the motives of others. He probably wants a suitor for Ophelia that is easier to manipulate than Hamlet.
Polonius manipulates the players from the crown down to the servants. This is most true when he advises the queen right before his death.
“He will come straight. Look you lay home to him.
Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,
And that your grace hath screened and stood
between
Much heat and him. I’ll silence me even here.
Pray you, be round with him.
How can an adviser dare to tell a queen how to handle her own son? Unless Polonius somehow has a personal stake in what becomes of Hamlet there seems no reason why he should interfere and hid behind the curtain like a rat. It is possible that he may have advised Claudius to kill Hamlet I so that Claudius could marry Gertrude and obtain the throne. Some might see Polonius’ death as a mistake by Hamlet, however he may have been the true villain behind all the drama. The hamartia of Polonius drove the tragedy of Hamlet to the final catharsis.
At the end of the play, the reader and audience experience a great catharsis when most of the characters die. Most of all the death of Claudius by Hamlet’s hand. Due to Hamlet’s indecisiveness, Claudius’ murder came late in the play and his true evil character had become known. By the end of the play, Claudius is shown to be an evil king who had caused the death of his brother and others and would continue to do so if he had lived. If Hamlet had acted earlier, Claudius’ true character would not have been known and it would have just been Hamlet avenging his father’s death. Hamlet’s revenge is secondary and killing Claudius becomes a good deed that the reader and audience applaud.
Hamlet, who finally decided to act when it was too late died due to his fatal flaw of indecisiveness. Polonius brought about his own death and that of his children by his meddlesome ways. At the end of the play, the major players have died due to hamartia. The catharsis is sweet, in that finally Hamlet has avenged his father, his integrity intact after he corrected a grievous wrong.