Open Prompt Part Two: 2003

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.

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     Tragic figures in literature often serve a purpose as conductors of lighting, causing destruction and pain onto the lives around them. In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, the protagonist, Hamlet, is at an established and high-ranking spot of society. In this analogy, the ghost of the late King Hamlet is the lighting, that abruptly electrifies Elsinore with revenge and deception. With this power and prestige, Hamlet metaphorically acts as a lighting rod to the purge of Elsinore and his own self-destruction.

     At the beginning of the play, Hamlet is confronted by his father's ghost and given the mission of avenging his death. This is destructive to Hamlet's physiological well being because the task at hand conflicts with his moral foundation. The idea of Providence, where there is no free will other than through God's path, would instruct Hamlet to ignore his father's requests and forgive Claudius for the murder. This conflict between the requests of two majorly influential "father figures" (God and the late King Hamlet) causes the actual action toward killing Claudius to be delayed, allowing other events to ensue. The longer it takes for Hamlet to realize the correct path to take, the drama builds up, resulting in complete and udder disaster in the end, including his own demise. This ties into the meaning of the play because during the period of Hamlet's moral contemplation he is given power and is separated from his peers, like a lighting rod would be placed in solitude, he is struck with the ultimate punishment: death.

     On the other hand, Hamlet's influence on the events within the walls of Elsinore are also destructive to everyone around him. During this contemplation, his actions indirectly lead to the death of two people in Elsinore. Polonius is killed while hiding behind an arras, where he was eavesdropping on Hamlet and Gertrude's conversation. Polonius never would have been hiding there if Hamlet was not so misleading with his "pretend madness" and odd behavior prior to the event, which was a result to the initial request of his father. Hamlet is also indirectly responsible for Ophelia's death because after the contact with his father, he began to loose trust in everyone around him, including his love, Ophelia. In giving her the cold shoulder and murdering her father, she was driven to insanity and took her own life. All in all, Hamlet acts as the center of attention throughout the play, and all the events that are weighted with death surround his actions. Claudius and Polonius's conspiracy, Laertes's revenge, Ophelia's suicide, Gertrude's poisoning, and the murder of Hamlet himself all are a result of Hamlet's contact with the King's specter.

     The young prince Hamlet is victim as well as instrument of the Ghost's lightning, which leads to the purge of everyone at the end of the play. As seeking revenge for his father's death, Hamlet defies the laws of Providence, spreading what once was a lighting bolt of electricity into a relentless display of fire.