A tragedy is defined as, "a serious drama in which the protagonist meets with disaster through some personal fault or through unavoidable circumstance. While William Shakespeare's Hamlet, and Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron, both display the conventions of a tragedy it is clear that they are both very different. This will be proven by analyzing Hamlet's and Harrison Bergeron's hamartia, downfall and catharsis. It is evident that Hamlet's tragic flaw is his procrastination. He takes too long to act on his thoughts. Hamlet had the perfect opportunity to kill Claudius; however, he stalls and begins to over analyze the situation as he thinks to himself, "Now might I do it pat, Now he is a praying/ And now I'll do't. And so he goes to heaven/ And so am I revenged. That would be scanned/ A villain kills my father, and for that,/ I, his sole…show more content… When he escapes prison he is convinced that he would be the one to overthrow the government. However he did not have a concrete plan on how he was going to accomplish his goal. Instead, he walked into the studio, "Clanking, clownish and huge, [he] stood centre... The knob of the uprooted studio door was still in his hand" (Vonnegut). His will to live as his own person is so strong he barges into the studio with no plan at all. Therefore his tragic flaw is his impulsiveness which is the complete opposite of Hamlet's tragic flaw. As the play Hamlet progresses, Hamlet's tragic flaw ultimately leads to his downfall. He procrastinated so much that he gave Claudius the opportunity to strategize his vengeance against him. Claudius tells Laertes that when Hamlet returns he, "will work him/ To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,/ Under the which he shall not choose but fall" (IV.vii. 64-66). Claudius now has the opening to kill Hamlet. His tragic flaw which is his inability to act is what leads to Claudius having sufficient time to plan Hamlet's
