Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Comparative Literature, grade: 1,0, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, language: English, abstract: As the protagonist of Shakespeares play Hamlet, the young Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is popularly considered a heroic figure, revenging the murder of his father who was poisoned by Claudius, Hamlets uncle. He appears to be an archetypical Renaissance figure, a versatile character that contains something of everything within him: He is the sophisticated thinker and the powerless politician; the resentful child and the sober student; the moral Puritan and the deranged Prince; the witty murderer and the cold-blooded jester.

Since Michael Davies speaks of Hamlets supposed renaissance variety as a compendium of selves and therefore of a rather modern man of no fixed identity, we will in the context of this work examine the question whether Hamlet could be considered an anti-hero by pointing out certain traits of his introverted nature and the significant impact of self-reflection on Hamlets behaviour throughout the play.