Hamlet and His Thoughfulness
Hamlet and His Thoughfulness
One of the most unique things about Hamlet is that he thinks rationally rather than taking action, in all of Hamlet’s spare hours he is preoccupied with his own thoughts thus adding more intensity to his feelings and worry and tension as well as confusion, these qualities of Hamlet makes his situation so impossible for him to resolve easily. Due to his excessive thoughts rather than action
Hamlet may be a thinking man, however, this does not mean he actually likes to think. Although he might have liked to think, when the time has come for him to take action, he cannot because of this urge to think. His capacity of thinking becomes a handicap rather than an advantage. And this is the most painful and the tragic part of the Hamlet character.
The biggest problem is that he is aware of this. Not only is he incapable of acting without thinking, he knows that this is the case, which makes the burden even heavier. Hamlet cannot face reality. It is already a shocking experience for him when he has to believe the words of the ghost.
However Hamlet is, a man of decision. He is thoughtful. He needs to think in order to justify his actions, and his intellectual characteristics are the major difference between Claudius and himself. Hamlet is very aware of the relationship between action and reaction and realizes that he has to proceed very carefully. In the play, Claudius is the vital character, a man of action. He takes the first action, the action that sets the story in motion, the poisoning of Hamlets father. The poisoning of the blades and the cup, an action that will backfire and cause his own death.
In the play, there seems to be a constant shift of action, where only one party can act at any time. These two parties are of course Hamlet and Claudius. When Claudius has taken the action that secures him the throne, he allows Hamlet to become the man of action. But Hamlet delays, the only action Hamlet takes is staging the play, which seems more