The Anatomy of a Hero: Shakespeare's Hamlet and Romeo

What makes up the anatomy of a hero and in what manner does a hero differ from a simple protagonist? Very difficult questions that are charged with both ingrained biases and loaded with personal interpretations and preferences. There are a plethora of examples that one could cite from various texts and writings down through the ages as a means of making their points on this subject. But for both the sake of both brevity and focus, we will be taking a critical look at the would be heroes, and most certainly the protagonists, of two of Shakespeare’s most well known plays. 

In this essay we will both compare and contrast Romeo and Hamlet to attempt to determine if either of them truly manage to go beyond the scope of simple leading man and actually make the jump to being someone that we might feel comfortable classifying as a hero. To this end we will begin by attempting to determine what was considered the heroic ideal at the time that these pieces were written and comparing that model to the contrasting version that holds true today. We will continue by studying the motivations of both Romeo and Hamlet and attempting to determine what it is that drives their heels. Lastly we will take a critical look at their actions, as well as their inactions, to see if they, in fact, match their deeds to their beliefs. 

The modern media has groomed us to believe that whatever overly muscled, gun wielding, testosterone junky who kills the cardboard cut out villain at the end of the film is obviously the hero and few of us ever take the time or put any thought into what that might truly mean. There is more often than not little to no substance to these would be protagonists who are usually every bit as morally bankrupt as those whose so called evil deeds they are attempting to put a stop to. The simple fact that their actor has top billing is generally enough to garner the support of the viewing masses.