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 to Lear’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 back. 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 too much
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.