The Seed of Hamlet's Reluctance

In order to answer this question, it is important to consider the early parts of the play. Contrasting to the play’s later scenes, Hamlet initially comes across as a rather rational person (and a quite emotional one too). In act one scene two, he ponders killing himself because he cannot bear the corruption between Gertrude and Claudius. However he cannot bring himself to do it because “…the Everlasting had not fix’d His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter,” (I.ii 131-132) meaning that it is against God to commit suicide. Hamlet’s will is conflicting with his thoughts, influencing the actions he takes, and thus ending up not killing himself (no matter how much he wants to). His inaction foreshadows what he is like later in the play. In addition, Hamlet self-deprecates by saying that Claudius is “…no more like my father than I to Hercules” (I.ii 152). Hamlet conveys how polar opposite he is to Hercules, understanding that he is more passive. Similar to his act one scene two soliloquy, Hamlet’s ‘To be, or not to be’ speech discusses the meaning of human existence and the fear of the “undiscovered country” of afterlife, from which “no traveler returns.” Hamlet then says that “…conscience does make cowards of us all.” (III.i 84) This line subtly suggests that his thinking is the seed from which his reluctance grows from. His will to take action is an attempt to conceal his possible insecurity because he is not like the typical gallant-like Hercules that is expected of the prince, as stated in I.ii. Unfortunately, 'willingness' does not mean 'do' and as much as Hamlet yearns to take action, he cannot bring himself to because he constantly second-guesses himself. Deep down, he does not believe in himself. Additionally, it is silly that Hamlet is thinking exceedingly about something so unnecessary. His introspectiveness leads to his overthinking and that leads to the delay of his actions. Hamlet misses a perfect opportunity to finally kill Claudius when Claudius is praying in the Church. Being the thinker that he is, Hamlet hesitates yet again because 1) they are in a church and 2) if Hamlet kills Claudius when he is confessing, his soul will be saved, and this is hardly an adequate revenge. His hesitation (and ultimately delay) emanates from overthinking. Throughout the play, Hamlet’s reluctance to killing his uncle stems from his hidden insecurities as well as his introspectiveness. His conscience ceaselessly conflicts with his willpower, making him become very indecisive and eventually postponing his actions. I think the lesson here is that procrastination is only a temporary relief of action, and it just builds on the issue. It is a relentless cycle that keeps going until you break it. Though it is important to be thoughtful about one’s doings, sometimes one should just go with their gut feeling; that could either mean taking action or not. However, I also believe that Shakespeare is trying to signify the importance of recognizing who we are; our identity, and accepting it. We are not all leaders. We are not all doers. We are not all extroverts. Some of us are the thinkers, the scholars, the introverts. With self-acceptance, we can prevent an array of events in our life from spiraling out of control, just like what happened to Hamlet. Hamlet knows that he is passive, yet he tries to pursue actions that are beyond his true identity, causing much problems and delay along the way, as well as the inconsistencies in his personality.

Break the endless cycle of procrastination!