Should the audience feel pity for the tragic characters in Hamlet?

Answer 1

Feel sorry for Ophelia, she suffered for the selfishness of everyone around her!

Answer 2

I believe you should feel pity for Ophelia who tries her best to love Hamlet and is first rejected and then hit upon. She doesnt know what to make of him attacking her and her confusion plus the untimely death of her father who was her sounding board when it came to her relationship with Hamlet led to her insanity and suicide. Ophelia was the #1 subject of Pre- Raphaelite art because of her tragic and frail life. Check out some of the Pre-Raph paintings and see how she is portrayed.

Answer 3

The ghost says, "pity me not," which is ironic because he seems to be in purgatory, from which a spirit was traditionally released by the prayers of the living asking for pity. The ghost wants revenge and he wants Hamlet to recover his kingdom (his "extorted treasure in the womb of earth") in his name, but what he really needs is pity. Claudius tries to ask for forgiveness but can't do it sincerely because he too is unable to give up his "extorted treasure." All the characters are reflections of and are reflected by Hamlet, the "mirror of fashion." Hamlet said, "the purpose of playing... is, to hold ...the mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure." I think Shakespeare is asking us to identify with all the characters, pity them, and ask for forgiveness for them and for ourselves.

Answer 4

Hamlet himself is one big tragic character. If anything, given his Oedipus complex of being jealous of his father (then his uncle) to get in bed with his own Mother, sounds pretty tragic to me.

Answer 5

Yes, why not?