Character and Heroes in the Four Major Tragedies of Shakespeare

Character and Heroes in the Four
Major Tragedies of Shakespeare

B. KRISHNAMURTHY
Fakiz Mohan College, Balasore

Character is destiny and the four major tragedies of Shakespeare–Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth prove the truth of the statement, the heroes in these famous plays suffer because of tragic flaws in their characters. Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, procrastinates things He is called upon to avenge his father’s murder. He is told who the murderer is. He makes himself sure of the identity of the men on whom he is going to take revenge. Even then, he goes on vacillating. Very often, he settles down to examining the pros and cons of the line of action he is going to undertake. In the process, he is unable to take action. We see in Hamlet the agony and suffering of an indecisive individual. Shakespeare presents in Hamlet a man whose excessive intellectual powers become an obsession with him and bring about his tragedy. Hamlet has a contemplative turn of mind. A sort of brooding melancholy sits on him. He fails to discharge his responsibility we see Hamlets in real life They are indecisive and when they are required to act, they fail lamentably. When we take a decision we must implement it without any delay. The successful man in our world is he who loses no time in putting into action a decision he has taken after sufficient thought. Through Hamlet Shakespeare drives home this truth.

In Othello, Shakespeare describes a man of action. Othello, a black Moor, falls in love with Desdemona, a paragon of beauty. On suspicion, he kills her. Here, the great dramatist studies the relationship between a husband and his wife. Othello seems to suffer for his good qualities. He is open, trustful and credits all others with his own good qualities. He trusts Iago, his ancient, deeply. It is this overtrustfulness that brings about Othello’s tragedy. Used to nothing but action, Othello fails to give a thought to things. Othello is a great man. He is a valiant fighter, a poet and a man of action. But he is not wary. He fails to take note of the evil, a part and parcel of human life. However great and noble we may be, we should not take things for granted. Othello fails because he lacks in worldly wisdom. With all his nobility and heroism, Othello is a “credulous fool.” He accepts Iago’s word without verifying them. He strangles the innocent Desdemona to death and kills himself on a revelation of the truth. Othello is thus an example of a man who plunges into action without sufficient thought. We see many Othellos in our day-to-day life. They land themselves and others in troubles because of their rash actions unaided by thought.

King Lear presents before us the tragedy of a father deserted by his ungrateful children. Goneril and Regan are not daughters, but tigers. They put the old Lear to all sorts of indignities and insults. Finally, they are so cruel as to leave him in the midst of a pitiless storm. It is Cordelia his youngest daughter who comes toLear’s rescue. At the beginning of the play, we see Goneril and Regan indulging in “an oily and glib art.” When asked to profess their love, they flatter him. But, Cordelia speaks the plain truth. She tells the old man that she cannot love him like her sisters because she has a duty towards her would-be-­husband. King Lear gets furious. He thinks that Cordelia is full of pride. He refuses to give her any share of his kingdom. Kent, his faithful servant, tries to intervene in favour of Cordelia. But he is banished. France accepts Cordelia without any share of territory. Now Lear’s woes begin. Goneril gels fed up with him and his hundred knights. She asks her father to reduce the size of his retinue as they are becoming a nuisance in her palace. Lear loses his temper and leaves for Regan’s palace. Both Goneril and Regan gang up against Lear. He is left in the storm in the company of his faithful fool. Shakespeare in King Lear, brings out vividly this filial ingratitude. Ultimately, Cordelia, whom Lear has disowned as his child, comes forward to comfort Lear in his plight. She wages a battle against her sisters to regain the kingdom for Lear, but she suffers a defeat. Both Lear and she are made prisoners. Cordelia, his loving daughter, is hanged. Lear is more sinned against than sinning. He has failed to understand his daughters and has neglected his duties towards his subjects. That is why he meets his tragedy. Here is a lesson for fathers and children. Fathers must know the nature of their children and the children have a filial responsibility. We can only transgress this moral law at our own peril.

Shakespeare’s another great play Macbeth is about ambition. Macbeth, a great general, decides to usurp the throne. He calls his king Duncan for dinner and murders him. Duncan was his benefactor and kinsman. Egged on by the witches, Macbeth along with lady Macbeth commits that heinous act. Macbeth is not an ordinary mortal. He is endowed with extraordinary intellectual powers. He has a keen sense of right and wrong. He has in him the milk of human kindness. He hesitates a lot before he puts Duncan to death. The three witches predict kingship for Macbeth. Lady Macbeth with her masterful nature overcomes the resistance in Macbeth to do wrong. Macbeth is not without fault. The seeds of black thoughts are already there in his heart. The witches and lady Macbeth help only to arouse these evil designs. Macbeth after embarking upon a wrong course of action never looks . At first, he is full of moral scruples. In course of time, he becomes a hardened criminal. He kills Banquo and his offspring and indulges in one bloody act after another. At last, he becomes a prey to his devilish nature. He presents a figure full of pity and terror. Here, Shakespeare points out that overweening ambition brings about our tragedy. Thus, we come across over-ambitious human beings like Macbeth engaging themselves in nefarious activities and ending themselves up in ignominy.

Thus, we find that in Shakespeare’s major tragedies character is destiny. Hamlet, Othello, Lear and Macbeth suffer because of flaws in their characters. Hamlet vacilltates, Othello acts without thought, Lear fails to understand his own children and Macbeth allows himself to be blinded by excessive ambition. Thus, Shakespeare shows us that it is within our powers to attain success and happiness in this world. We suffer because we allow ourselves to be tempted by evil. Hamlet, the philosopher-prince thinks toomuch and finds himself unequal to the task entrusted to him by his father’s ghost. Had he acted in time, he would have saved himself, his sweet-heart Ophelia, and his mother the agony and torture they were subjected to. He illtreats Ophelia and is extremely unkind to his mother Getrude. His behaviour towards them is reprehensible. His timely action would have saved some innocent persons, whom his over-thinking mind without any justification makes accomplices in the crime of his father’s murder. People like Hamlet fail to live in harmony. They forget the fact that ours is an imperfect world and in order to attain name and fame in this world we have to compromise with evil. Those who take up cudgels in order to eradicate evil live in a fool’s paradise. They not only fail in their missions but also get themselves contaminated with evil. This is precisely what has happened to Hamlet. While waging an unceasing battle against evil, the young prince has allowed himself to be tainted by evil. At first, we have all our sympathy for the hero, but his barbarous behaviour towards Ophelia and his mother begins to fill us with disgust for him. His indecisiveness, excessive moral scruples and his imperfect understanding of the world deliver him to the influence of the Devil and bring about his fall.

In Othello, Shakespeare makes a superb study of marital relations. Othello has loved Desdemona passionately but not wisely. Very often, in this world of ours, true, selfless and noble love of a husband for his wife engenders jealousy, ill-will and enmity in the society. That is why the husband should be cautious and try to guard himself against such plots and conspiracies. But, Othello who is an embodiment of magnanimity wrongly refuses to pay heed to the incalculable harm that can be done by the mean and clandestine activities of some crafty weaklings like lago. In this world where we find an eternal tussle between good and evil it is dangerous to be too good. Othello should not have allowed Iago to discuss his wife’s conduct. Totally ignorant of an experience of intrigues and underhand plots indulged in by some smiling villains just to derive some sadistic pleasure, Othello lets Iago, a cunning scoundrel, to poison his ears and bring about his tragedy.

Desdemona, his wife, fails to read Othello aright. A lesser woman in her place should have understood much earlier that jealousy, the green-eyed monster, has taken possession of Othello. But, Desdemona, in her passion, is so sure of Othello that she refuses to accept the fact that he can suspect her fidelity. That is why she is so untactful in arguing on behalf of Cassio who is suspected to have illicit relations with her. Thus the noble love between Othello and Desdemona refuses to take note of evil, an integral part of life, and tries to assert itself. Hence it fails. This is a warning to those husbands and wives who bask in the sunshine of romantic love without having any truck with realities of life.

King Lear brings before us vividly the relations between children and parents. Ever since the beginning of human civiliza­tion, it has been accepted that children should look after parents in their old age. But, unfortunately, very few children are grateful to their parents. They flyaway leaving their old and decrepit parents to their fate. According to Shakespeare, the filial ingratitude is a heinous crime. Goneril and Regan in King Lear flatter their old father just to get some advantage for them­selves. Once they become rulers of the kingdom, they do not hesitate to make the life of the old man miserable. It is true that the old king has some weaknesses. But, we feel that he certainly deserves a better treatment at the hands of his daughters.

Goneril and Regan appear to be monsters, not human beings. Cordelia is an ideal example of filial affection. She has been cursed and disowned by her angry father. Even then, she makes a supreme sacrifice to mitigate his sufferings. While emphasizing the responsibilities of children towards their parents, Shakespeare does not minimize a parent’s duty towards his or her children. King Lear has failed as an ideal father. Blinded by passion he has not made any sincere effort to understand his daughters. That is why he is partly responsible for the suffering he undergoes. Family harmony is based upon a right understanding between parents and children. This fact is driven home mainly through the tragedy of King Lear.

            Macbeth brings out vividly the sin committed by an over­ambitious and over-scrupulous general. Macbeth kills Duncan his king and guest and usurps the throne for himself. Later he wades through pools of blood to keep himself in power in an hostile environment. From the night he murders his benefactor after inviting him to his palace, sleep stops coming to him. His wife who had goaded him into action suffers a living death and at last, death is kind enough to terminate her life. Macbeth begins to see the enormity of his crime. He becomes extremely unhappy. He spends sleepless nights thinking of his treacherous and sinful act.

Through Macbeth, Shakespeare warns, ambitious persons who show no scruples in securing the object of their desires. All of us should be wiser by witnessing the tragedy of Macbeth. We can never attain peace and happiness by transgressing certain accepted moral laws. When our minds are just and calm, we need not fear any harm. But, the unjust and devilish nature betrays us in our unguarded moment and then, we play ourselves into the hands of spirits evil.

Thus, in the four major tragedies, we see how the heroes suffer for lapses in their character, but not because of any outside agency beyond their control.