William Shakespeare's Hamlet is certainly a tragedy of tragedies. In this literary masterpiece, Shakespeare piles calamity upon calamity upon the story's main protagonist, Hamlet. These sad things not only happen to Hamlet, but also to most of the other characters in the story. The tragic nature of this story can obviously be seen in many ways. The main aspects of this work that reveal its nature are the death of people close to the main character, the tragic flaw of the hero and the final catastrophe that ends the story. In Hamlet the protagonist loses many of the people dear to him. In fact, the cause of this story is the death of Hamlet's father. Along with Hamlet's aforementioned father, the deaths would include Hamlet's lover, Ophelia; his mother (her death is both figurative and literal); Laertes; Claudio; and Polonius. Death is a constant theme in this tragedy and Hamlet even takes time to reflect on his death and his fate in a graveyard. "Here hung the lips that I kissed I don't know how many times - Where are you now, your jokes? Your games? Your songs?" says Hamlet, talking about the jester's skull he found. (Hamlet 5.1.164) At the beginning of the story it is revealed to Hamlet that his father was murdered by none other than Hamlet's uncle and new father-in-law, Claudius. This murder is the catalyst for the story and greatly disturbs Hamlet even before he knew that his father had actually been betrayed. Hamlet mourned his father long after everyone else had left. The fact that Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, married Claudius not long after the former king's death also caused bitterness in Hamlet. He criticizes his mother saying that she is like a depraved animal. "O God, a beast that wants the disco... middle of the paper... the end of the story. In the end Horatio is the only person left to tell Hamlet's story and why these events happened." “If ever you held me in your heart, turn away from happiness a while, and in this hard world breathe in sorrow to tell my tale,” Hamlet implores Horatio before he dies.(5.2.344)The Tragic Elements of Hamlet they are evident in the death of his loved ones, in his tragic flaw, and in the final catastrophe that ends the story. Hamlet is an incredible drama, combining romance, revenge, incest and age action and has made numerous appearances in films. Shakespeare was truly a master storyteller and his stories have been immortalized forever as he always wanted. Works Cited Shakespeare, William Switched-On Schoolhouse, AZ: Alpha Omega Publications, 2001.