According to the conventional plot formula, the forces of good are clearly arrayed against the forces of evil. Good and evil fight; good triumphs in the end. In Hamlet, William Shakespeare created an excellent cast of unsavory characters. The world of Elsinore is a world of deception and death, a cesspool of humanity's most disgusting vices. What's less clear is which main characters make up the good parts. Unfortunately by convention, Shakespeare takes the traditional "good" roles of the charming young prince and the virginal maiden, and distorts them, giving them flaws. Although Hamlet and Ophelia are saved from being one-dimensional, their exposure necessarily reveals baser and more tainted characters. Readers come to recognize that in a corrupt world, the highest virtue is all too susceptible to the great fall; consequently, at the end of the play they should feel no admiration for the two tragic lovers, but only pity. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Initially, readers identify the moral high ground with Hamlet. Although his pain can be interpreted as excessive, we recognize in Hamlet a sense of righteousness and supreme humanity. When Gertrude asks Hamlet why his father's death "seems so peculiar to him," he cries, "It seems, lady? No, it is. I don't know 'it seems'" (I.ii.9). Hamlet's sincere indignation is amplified because it follows the king's empty and presumptuous speech. Furthermore, the respect and trust that Horatio, an entirely honest individual, shows to Hamlet is evidence of the prince's integrity. However, as Hamlet's depression does not fade away, readers begin to see something terribly wrong. Events beyond his control push him towards the abyss of madness and cynicism and reveal the underlying flaws in his character. In the first and fourth soliloquies, Hamlet expresses his desire to commit suicide and abstains only because that act would be a sin. His anguish towards the world, however, is unbridled: "What a work is man... the beauty of the world, the example of animals! Yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?" (II.ii.42). Hamlet is depressed because he feels that Gertrude and Claudius have betrayed his father's memory by marrying so soon after the funeral. Without resorting to suicide, he is forced to desperate measures; the peaceful prince is now ready for murder. Hamlet is not unaware of his own transformation. He promptly turns his incisive gaze on himself. Commenting on the fatal flaws of men, he provides some revealing insights: Their other virtues - be they as pure as grace... In the general censure they will take corruption from that particular flaw. (I.iv.20) Hamlet's fatal flaw - evidenced by the characters around him - is his desire for revenge. This dark intent soon consumes his being and his virtues. But unlike Claudius, Hamlet is not a murderer at heart; he puts off the act as long as possible, failing to kill early and end his revenge with minimal bloodshed. He reflects, walks and makes long philosophical speeches. Like an actor unsuited to his role, he needs multiple and obvious cues for action. The ghost of his father is forced to reappear during Hamlet's heated criticism of Gertrude: "Forget not. This visit / Is but to stimulate thy almost dull purpose" (III.iv.75). Once again, Hamlet is wasting time by verbally attacking the queen instead of completing his assigned task. Only after seeing Fortinbras at the end of the play, willing to sacrifice many men and many riches for a miserable plot of land,Hamlet makes the real decision to act. Although Hamlet ultimately kills Claudius, he can be said to have provided neither the means nor the opportunity. The poisoned sword was wielded by Laertes and the king himself organized the fencing match. Hamlet's lack of initiative shows that he is not a true murderer. He is driven to the act by extraordinary circumstances: those of Laerte's betrayal and Claudius' betrayal of the queen. As Nietzsche said, “He who fights monsters should be careful not to become a monster himself, for as you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.” Hamlet gave in. Nowhere is this fact more evident than in Act III, Scene iii, when Hamlet has the opportunity to kill the king while he is praying - and chooses not to because he wishes to send Claudius to hell. Hamlet is not a seeker of justice driven by a high value system: his type of revenge is ugly and very personal. Hamlet should be neither hated nor admired, for he is neither entirely responsible nor excluded from the play's final deaths. Although Hamlet finds comfort in completing his task and choosing Fortinbras to rule his fellow Danes, he dies broken, having partially become the monster he tried so hard to kill. The "sweet prince" deserves only the pity of the reader. As a young woman in a corrupt, male-dominated court, it was perhaps inevitable that Ophelia's apparent purity would prove to be a farce - that she would be brutally used as a pawn, ruined, and then tossed aside like a dirty rag. The reader's first encounter with Ophelia in Act I, Scene iii suggests none of the above. Indeed, Ophelia appears to possess verve and wit, resisting her brother's warnings about her growing relationship with Hamlet: Do not, as some unsavory shepherds do, show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, while, like a breath, of reckless libertine , himself the primrose path of the pawn alliance and does not review his own rede.(I.iii.16) Ophelia shows herself unusually perceptive. Although he outwardly addresses Laertes, he also subtly criticizes Polonius, the courtier who states with a serious expression that "brevity is the soul of wit" in the midst of a long-winded speech. Ophelia is not simply a pretty face with no mental faculties. She appears mature and reserved. However, this rosy conception of Ophelia is soon destroyed when she agrees to Claudius and Polonius' plans to spy on Hamlet. Knowingly, but also helplessly, he allows himself to be manipulated. In any case, the lovers' conversation is revealing: Ham. Yes, indeed; for the force of beauty will transform honesty from what it is into a vulgar sooner than the force of honesty can translate beauty into its likeness. This was sometimes a paradox, but now time proves it. I loved you once. Of. Indeed, my lord, you made me believe it. (III.i.54) Hamlet means that beauty in women is usually a tool. Instruments handled by unclean hands do not remain spotless. Polonius, despite his fatherly affection, pushed Ophelia to Hamlet with ulterior motives. If he had a sincere desire to protect her, he would have sent her to the countryside. Shakespeare shows Polonius' conversation with Rinaldo in Act II, Scene i for one reason: to establish Polonius' hidden cunning. Polonius knows what Ophelia means when she says that Hamlet made her believe that he loved her - that they had sexual relations. Given the nature of her "protectors", it is no wonder that Ophelia is not the pure woman she seems. Further evidence of a full-blown relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia is found in the mousetrap scene. When Hamlet sits at Ophelia's feet, he makes numerous obscene references to "country matters." Ophelia comfortably accepts the.