Lack Of Amnesty In Hamlet

It is obvious that tragic heroes usually commit an error, which will lead to their tragic doom. But what other critics has not considered as they analyzed tragic heroes is their incapability of granting/asking clemency as they are incapable of making right or wise decisions such as granting clemency in the strict sense. Typically, anger, love, jealousy or ambition are typical driving powers of which one at least is ultimately responsible for their shortsighted decisions before they go through ‘recognition.’ For instance, anguish is the ultimate driving power, which makes Hamlet incapable of amnesty in Hamlet 3.3. Thus, he withholds clemency from his uncle who expresses his remorse for killing his brother, the former king and
Hamlet’s father.
On the other hand, if Hamlet took revenge and killed his uncle, the tragedy would have ended as early as 3.3 and Hamlet and his mother could have survived. An alternative ending of Hamlet might have been one in which Hamlet and
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Ophelia get married which might be a typical ending that aims at a relatively happy closure of the play. In fact, if Hamlet’s uncle was killed by Hamlet in 3.3, I do not think this scenario will be seen as a dramatically tragic one because we might take it as a a form of poetic-justice scene in which the bad figure is punished. Thus, if Hamlet killed his uncle, I would have taken it as a wise decision. But
Hamlet’s anger blinds him enough that he postpones revenge and withholds clemency from his uncle. In other words, he makes two shortsighted decisions, which eventually lead to the death of the entire royal family. But his two shortsighted decisions are typical of any tragic hero who is not supposed to be able to forgive or make good decision until they go through recognition. Once they go through recognition, they can overcome the negative influence of their emotions or ambitions and as a result, they can