Heroes are defined by the actions they take, but they either live to see them fall or die heroically. One of Shakesphere's most memorable tragic heroes Hamlet is the definition of a tragic hero. In the book Hamlet, Shakespeare's character, the village, is determined to kill his uncle, the king. This goal proves to be a challenge for him due to his morals. He often struggles with this throughout the book. This proves to be his undoing for not deciding to kill the king until the end. A tragic hero must have a fatal flaw which, combined with fate, leads to tragedy. This is one of the key characteristics of a tragic hero. He had many chances to kill the king, but due to his inner turmoil he allows the odds to pile up against him. This leads to him being poisoned and ultimately dying heroically along with his mother, the king, and Laertes. Hamlet proves himself to be a tragic hero because he receives supernatural guidance, his morals contradict his goal, and he possesses tragic flaws. Hamlet can be called a tragic hero because he has a goal given to him by the supernatural. This goal transforms village life in a direction he could never have imagined possible. “For Hamlet it is a secret, revealed to him by the ghost of his murdered father. Hamlet shares the same roof as his father's murderer, and the murderer has now hastily married Hamlet's mother. Suspicion, anguish, unbearable tension.” (Duran 3) To be a tragic hero a literary character must have some sort of guidance which Hamlet receives. Without his father's perspective, Hamlet would live the rest of his life without knowing it. This is the first time Hamlet encounters the supernatural, but it will not be the last time he speaks with it. Throughout the book Hamlet receives instructions from... middle of the paper... Eare's female endings. 44-71. np: Taylor & Francis Ltd / Books, 1999. Literary Reference Centre. Network. February 5, 2014.Duran, Manuel. "Don Quixote and Hamlet: strangers or brothers?" Confluence 20.1 (2004): 2-8. Literary reference center. Network. 5 February 2014. Johnston, J. “Characteristics of a Shakespearean Tragic Hero.” Sussex High. NP and web. February 1, 2014 http://sussexhigh.nbed.nb.ca/jjohnston/pdf%20files/tragic_hero_characteristics.pdfNevo, Ruth. "Acts III and IV: problems of text and staging." Modern critical interpretations: William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1985. 53-56. Print.Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. New York: Dover, 1992. Print.Smith, Nicole. "Shakespeare's Hamlet as Tragic Hero." Articlemyriad. Article Myriad, 2014. Web. 6 February 2014. http://www.articlemyriad.com/shakespeares-hamlet-tragic-hero/