o circumstances also beyond his control, related to the social and political realities of the time. This hesitation may be the tragic flaw that the tragic hero must possess, and yet if this is so it is different from the tragic flaw of any other tragic hero. For one thing, the crime Hamlet is to avenge is not of his making--he is not atoning for any error on his part and is instead carrying out a son's duty imposed directly by the father's ghost and less directly by the need to restore the social order. He will be destroyed for doing so, but again this differs from the norm in that he is not being punished for anything he has done himself or for some fatal flaw within him that has drawn him into this situation.
In Act III, Scene 2, Hamlet is instructing the players he has assembled on how they are to present the dumb show entitled The Murder of Gonzago, a play which
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