HAMLET AND PROCRASTINATION

Some literary critics believe that if Hamlet had substituted immediate action for the prolixity with which he continually berates himself for procrastination, Gertrude, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Laertes, and even Hamlet himself would have survived. However, Shakespeare would not have had a play if such were the situation.

Hamlet's indecisiveness provides a conflict that is more internal than external. Hamlet's state of mind keeps him from real action; and as a consequence, the tragedy has a beginning, a middle, and an end, as Aristotle in his "Poetics" would have it: "Now, according to our definition, tragedy is an imitation of an action that is complete, and whole, and of a certain magnitude; for there may be a whole that is wanting in magnitude. A whole is that which has a beginning, a middle, and an end" (Aristotle 52).

A. C. Bradley poses the question: "But why in the world did not Hamlet obey the ghost at once, and so save seven of those eight lives?" (Bradley 79).

This question serves to point out that the entire play hinges upon the unusual character of the protagonist. Without this particular character makeup, the play would seem sensational and terrifying. Yet, the actual Hamlet is not t

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ifted in many ways, but incapable of positive action. As Hamlet says: "And thus the native hue of resolution/Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,/And enterprises of great pitch and moment/With this regard their currents turn awry/And lose the name of action" (Shakespeare 90). Hamlet, in other words, thinks too much, according to this theory. He is so contemplative that he loses the ability to act. Hamlet prefers to meditate than to go into action and kill King Claudius. He is full of determination, but lacks the quality of mind which could accomplish his goal. These are a few of the theories which attempt to explain Hamlet's slowness to act. Hamlet's psychological state has often been cited as the reason he procrastinates. His melancholia causes him to continually reflect within himself and do nothing. Terry Eagleton states: "For Freud, melancholy involves a diminution of the ego not far from Othello's steady collapse of self: the ego identifies itself with a lost object of love, and this pervasive lack gradually overwhelms it . . . Hamlet riddles and bamboozles his way out of being definitively known, switching masks and sliding the signifier to protect his inner privacy of being against the
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2074
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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