The Tragic Flaws of Heroes Portrayed in Hamlet, The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock and Agamemnon

Choose one element that you notice in three of these four major texts (Agamemnon, Hamlet, “The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock,” and John F. Kennedy’s Secret Society Speech). For example, you could choose to explore how the three texts deal with an element of Tragedy, a common theme, the use of character, or language, etc. Explain the similarities and differences as you compare the development in each work of your chosen element.

Introduction

Tragedy can happen in any place, in any time, in any family whether public or royal and the results are always catastrophic, and all will pay from that.

Tragic flaw is a literary device that can be characterized as an attribute in a character prompting their downfall, and the character is usually the hero of the plot. Tragic flaw is exhibited in Hamlet, Agamemnon, and 'The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock' as the title characters in each, are subjected to attributes that lead to their downfall.

Mapping scheme (Your main points):

• The tragic flaws portrayed in the stories demonstrates how the characters who suffer from them lead to their own downfalls.
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• The tragic flaws portrayed in the stories are, in fact, real as well as applicable to the readers own flaws and insecurities.
• The stories show feelings of pity, although in different forms, which all lead to the downfall of the main characters which attracts readers because the readers will notice that these fatal flaws, although different, are universal emotions.
• Each character has consequences which suits their actions
• The characters learn from their mistakes
• The characters expose their true selves when faced with a situation beyond their normal day to day understandings, forcing them to act irrationally by not properly dealing with their feelings and actions.
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First Point

Claim (Your argument for this paragraph):

• Prince Hamlet “is considered to be a scholar, a thinker, and the kind of person who would not act without thoroughly analysing the circumstances.
• Hamlet as a man who puts reason above all else, hesitates whether killing a man to avenge another man’s death is the right thing to do.
• Hamlet’s rational mind and emotional stability appear to be compromised, and his self-judgement and introspection worsen, as he fails to control himself and the events happening around him.

Evidence (Your sources, quotations, etc.):

• “To be, or not to be, that is the question. Is it nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to fight against a sea of troubles, and end them by fighting?” (Shakespeare 3.1.55-87)
• “O, that this too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw and resolve itself into a dew, or that the everlasting had not fixed. His canon gainst self-slaughter! O God, how weary, stale, flat and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world. (1.2.1.33-138)

Significance (Relate your evidence to your claim. How does this argument help to prove your thesis?):

Hamlet’s internal battle in avenging his father and justifying the actions leading to it lead to his demise at the hands of Laertes. This proves that Hamlet’s overthinking is, in fact, his tragic flaw which ultimately leads to his downfall.

Second Point

Claim (Your argument for this paragraph):

• Hamlet and Prufrock in “The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock” are confronted with completely different situations, these two characters prove they possess similar personality traits. Just like Hamlet, Prufrock is an emotional, over-analytical and an indecisive character.
• Prufrock spends all of his time pondering how to behave and act in society as he wants to become a man of action.
• Prufrock’s situation is not as complicated as Hamlet’s, yet it is easy to understand why Prufrock committed suicide; he had no hope for himself and he always hated the thought of people looking at him and analysing him.

Evidence (Your sources, quotations, etc.):

First

No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;

Am an attendant lord, one that will do

To swell a progress, start a scene or two,

Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,

Deferential, glad to be of use,

Politic, cautious, and meticulous;

Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;

At times, indeed, almost ridiculous –

Almost, at times, the Fool.

Second

And indeed there will be time

To wonder, 'Do I dare?' and, 'Do I dare?'

Time to turn back and descend the stair,

With a bald spot in the middle of my hair – (lines 37-40)

Third

With a bald spot in the middle of my hair –

[They will say: 'How his hair is growing thin!']

My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,

My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin –

[They will say: 'But how his arms and legs are thin!' (lines 40-44)

Significance

Prufrock’s insecurities and lack of confidence comprise his tragic flaws. His fear of rejection prevented him from admitting a life-altering confession that ultimately proved to deprive him of one of life’s pleasures, sharing life with a significant other.

Claim:

• Agamemnon, when it comes to action, is not like Hamlet or Prufrock. He is considered to be a very accomplished character, with enormous power and a thirst for a social position.
• There are some similarities Agamemnon, Hamlet and Prufrock share in common, controlling their emotion, inability to succeed, and surpassing their own personal pressures.
• Agamemnon has a difficult time accepting the responsibilities of his position as King while being incapable of making the most obvious choices as a husband and a father.

Evidence:

“Round him, as if to catch a haul of fish, I cast an impassable net-fatal wealth of robe-so that he should neither escape nor ward off doom. Twice I struck him, and with two groans” [Line 1372]

Significance (Relate your evidence to your claim. How does this argument help to prove your thesis?):

Agamemnon’s lust for power is a tragic flaw that he possesses. Committing unspeakable crimes to quench his thirst for dominance and authority set motion his slaughter on the hands of his wife. Clearly, Agamemnon’s tragic flaw unequivocally instigated his downfall.

Conclusion

We reach the understanding that these three characters in “Hamlet”, “The Love Song of J, Alfred Prufrock” and “Agamemnon” did not succeed owing to their very own flawed personalities and tragic mistakes. If one translated Hamartia as a tragic flaw in the hero’s personality that allows for a tragic mistake that ultimately leads to the hero to fail, one can better understand how these three plays connect in addition to the similarities that all these characters have.

Summary of Main Points

Hamlet’s overthinking and inability to act rationally upon his father’s death, leads to him killing innocent victims, prompting disarray in the kingdom and his own death. Similarly, J.Alfred Prufrock is a character that let his insecurities guide his life and mold him into an incapable human being, abolishing his competency in making life - altering decisions and therefore making him unable to live with himself. In addition,

Agamemnon’s thirst and lust for power influences his selfish decisions that prompt his tragic death at the hands of his own wife while not realizing the consequences of his actions.

References

1. Hamlet Quotes by William Shakespeare. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1885548-the-tragicall-historie-of-hamlet-prince-of-denmark
2. Agamemnon Quotes by Aeschylus. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1881648
3. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and Other Poems Quotes by T.S. Eliot. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1800811-prufrock-and-other-observations