William Shakespeare seemed to have had a penchant for unsympathetic titular characters. Many of his plays, especially the tragedies, were named after indecisive, selfish, vindictive or otherwise just unpleasant men. It's hard to enjoy a work of literature or theater as the protagonist is unattractive, but plays such as Hamlet and Macbeth, Othello have experienced for centuries.
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, begins sympathetic; his father has recently died, and the King hamlet has good reason (as the word of a ghost, you can consider "good reason") to believe that his mother and uncle (who, by the way, has his mother married shortly after his father's death) planned his father's murder. He pays to seek revenge for this offence, but is not sure of how to act. And it is unsure of how to act. And it is unsure of how to act. He kills his uncle Claudius? He kills his mother? He kills himself? It is this dilemma that inspires his famous soliloquy (and what is probably the most famous of the hamlet quotes) "If or not to be".
Othello (the Moor), while also unsympathetic, very different from Hamlet. He begins the game as a relatively pleasant character; and a modern reader may be inclined to sympathize with him on the basis of her distaste for any racism she encountered in all the other characters can detect. He seems a strong soldier, a loving husband, good friend. But soon, his right hand Iago casts doubt in Othello's thoughts on the very innocent friendship between his wife Desdemona and a young up-and-comer Cassio. Othello's unable to look past his jealousy and eventually smothered his wife in their own bed, about eliminating any goodwill he had earned from the public earlier in the game.
And then there's Macbeth. Quick Macbeth summary: such as Othello, he distinguishes itself on the battlefield and returned home to Scotland as a hero and all-around beloved man. Than think you take exit a somewhat Oedipal. Macbeth receives a prophecy of three witches (more on that later) who eventually King of Scotland will be created. Unlike Oedipus, Macbeth keeps this prophecy and not doing its best to not come true. In fact, when he his wife about the prophecy tells, she immediately begins plotting the King's death. The King is conveniently enough, plan to stay with the Macbeths shortly after they take this decision and Lady Macbeth with success her husband emasculates act until he does.
He only gets more unsympathetic from there. Apparently, once that he state murder was realized, he thought what is the damage in the killing of a few more people? He eventually becomes so obsessed with himself and his power that he even can't be bothered to mourn his own wife, leading to suicide by her extreme debt was driven. He speaks one of the most influential Macbeth quotes, "full of sound and fury; signifying nothing "if he is essentially claiming that his wife committed suicide on a very bad moment for him, and while William Faulkner may have found those words inspirational, they a little flat for the average person.
Paul Thomson is an avid reader of English literature. His areas of interests include studies on quotes of Hamlet and Macbeth quotes. In his spare time he likes to participate in online forums and reading literature for youth.
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