The attributes of a tragic hero can be difficult to identify when reading or analyzing classic literature. While most of these stories include a character that contains a tragic flaw and eventually dies, it's deciding if he is truly heroic that's the hard part. However, it is fair to believe in "Hamlet," the title character is consumed with revenge towards Claudius, for his father's death. Although many characteristics of Hamlet may qualify him as a tragic hero, his intentions were more so made up of vengeance than morality. His soliloquies were full of doubt, and his thoughtful nature delayed an immediate retaliation against Claudius. In the end it was the lust for revenge that killed a majority of the characters.

Hamlet's fair and understanding personality are clear to the reader through his first soliloquy in which he questions his mother, Gertrude's, quick marriage. His feelings may be doubtful...