Socratic Seminar

Why Hamlet IS NOT a hero. (since this view was easily discarded by the debate and uproar left at the end of class)

If this isn't too broad of a statement.. ALL heroes have at least one person who considers them a "hero" in the context of their story. In the Avengers movie, their leader (Nick Fury) gathers the group together and tells them he needs their combined heroic strife to defeat Loki. Society considers them heroes and they are known as "super heroes" and for that reason they are gathered to defeat him. In every heroic movie I have seen there is an example of this.

Hunger Games 
Katniss Everdeen- Openly defies the capital and starts a rebellion. In the third book of  this series, the districts begin to rebel after 75 years. They actively look to Katniss as their motivation and hero, and start using a mocking jay as their symbol of the rebellion (this is the pin that Katniss wears).

Harry Potter
Harry Potter- He kills the darkest and most powerful wizard, when others were afraid to even say his name, Voldemort. Harry restored peace in the wizardry world and was known to everyone as a hero, "the boy who lived."

The list goes on and on.....

Hamlet however is not a hero. His father is a king. His father is killed and replaced by his uncle. Then the Queen, Hamlet, and his uncle all die. Hamlet carries out his fathers wishes and kills Claudius, who had killed is father.
An argument claimed today that Hamlet took vengeance and killed a corrupt leader and that the people were lucky and happy to have him dethroned. I don't remember there ever being anything in the play that told what the public thought of this. I don't even see how it could have helped the public regardless. The play taints the image of the royal court with all these deaths and the throne is obviously unstable, which would seem to lead to an unstable country. Hamlet took out his anger on Claudius for personal reasons, which satisfied no one but his fathers ghost. This is also an unreliable source because his father isn't even alive.

If the president of our country was killed and replaced by the vice president (who had secretly killed him), do you really think that the death of nearly everyone in the white house would be viewed as heroism??? I THINK NOT
It would cause protests and unease within the country.
Hamlet is an obvious main character, but not a hero.