Hamlet vs Epic Heroes

When comparing the works of Shakespeare to other writers of epic heroes, there is really no comparison. William Shakespeare was a writer who was far ahead of his years. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet’s use of language differentiates him from epic heroes such as Beowulf. When comparing the two, the uses of language are not very similar at all. Shakespeare spends a great amount of time focusing on Hamlet’s character being formed through self overhearing, while Beowulf’s character is centered around his honor and legacy which results in him not being a deep thinker like Hamlet. Because of this Beowulf lacks the sense of formation in his character though his language that Hamlet has. Beowulf acts on his feelings. Whereas in Hamlet, the characters pour out everything they felt through soliloquy’s, and they think long and hard about what they should do next before they take any action.

The formation of Hamlet’s character was performed in a way that was never done before. His character was formed through self overhearing. He was not formed through his actions like most epic heroes, instead through his thoughts and language. Whenever Hamlet was faced with a conflict, we were able to witness his thought process through his self overhearing. For example, in Hamlet’s “To be, Or not to be” soliloquy he is faced with various conflicts. He is debating whether to take revenge on Claudius, or to give up and commit suicide.
“To die, to sleep--
No more--and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to.”
In this portion of Hamlet’s “To be, Or not to be” soliloquy, Shakespeare is giving the audience the opportunity to form their own opinion of Hamlet since they are aware of his true intentions and able to witness first hand his self overhearing. By his soliloquy, the audience can tell he is well educated and has many levels to him.

In the poem Beowulf, the epic hero is completely formed by his actions. The audience is only able to form an opinion of Beowulf based off of his actions and how he performs in battle. For example, he is seen as brave, honorable, and noble when he defeats Grendel, but if he fails to succeed in his battles he would not be seen as an honorable hero. The formation of Beowulf’s character is based on his actions unlike Hamlet who’s character is based off of his language to describe what he is feeling.

All in all, Shakespeare used the language of his characters to define them, instead of having their actions be the factor forms their character like other epic heroes such as Beowulf. Hamlet’s use of self overhearing supplied his character with great depth which really allowed the audience to experience the same emotions the Hamlet was feeling and thinking; Something that was never done before.