Open Prompt 1, Part 2

2003 Prompt:

According to critic Northrop Frye, “Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divisive lightning.” Select a novel or play in which a tragic figure functions as an instrument of the suffering of others. Then write an essay in which you explain how the suffering brought upon others by that figure contributes to the tragic vision of the work as a whole.

Countless figures in countless written works can be described as having had suffering brought down upon them and thusly affected the nature of the work, slanting it toward tragedy. William Shakespeare's Hamlet is the perfect example of such a work. Hamlet, the main character, is the instrument of tragedy in this tragedy, bringing and spreading his personal suffering and ultimately turning the path of the play to this.

Right from the start of Hamlet, Hamlet's mental state reflects the events swirling around Elsinore. Feigned madness masking intelligence and betrayal... Hamlet's obvious madness may be pretended by underneath the poor guy is under a lot of stress. His dad just stopped by as a ghost, his uncle is a murderer and his mother and uncle are both adulterers. That's a lot for one guy to take, but Hamlet does it. The audience sees him quietly withdraw from Elsinore into himself and go a little insane even under his facade. In his resolution to kill his uncle and avenge his father, Hamlet must turn his back on the values taught to him by both his mother and God. His suffering under these conditions produces interactions with other characters like Gertrude and Ophelia that only drive further the point of their own suffering.

There are more examples of Hamlet's own suffering spreading through the castle than this response can hold but in particular, Ophelia's suicide, Polonius' murder and Hamlet's own death warrant explanations. Hamlet's recent abuse of Ophelia (a result of his own suffering) coupled with her father's death and brother's absence set her over the edge and she kills herself. Hamlet was the trigger there. Hamlet's suffering actually directly drove him to killing Polonius, ruse that it may have been. Polonius' murder came out of Hamlet's grief and impulsiveness.Lastly, Hamlet drove his uncle to desiring his death and actually taking steps toward that goal. The little showdown that took place in the last pages of the play was a result of Hamlet's suffering driving everyone around him away and eventually together again, a little closer than any of them may have preferred.
Hamlet's suffering is an epitome of suffering directing the nature of a work to tragedy. His own suffering lead to the ultimate suffering of literally every other character in the play.