Hamlet And Overthink

Hamlet overthinking and over contemplating situations made a big impact on his downfall. His doubt clouding his mind rendered his ability to act rationally and immediately. When Hamlet is approached by the king's ghost, he doubts whether the ghost is his father or a devil, he says, “the spirit I have seen/may be a devil and the devil hath power” (2.2.627-629). He overthinks the existent of the ghost as he is uncertain that the ghost is actually his dead father or a devil playing with his mind. This influences his delay to kill the new king, Claudius. When Hamlet finally does set his mind to avenge his father's death, he gets many opportunities to do so but eventually renders hopeless. For instance, during Claudius’s prayer, Hamlet has the opportunity
He eventually falls into his own trap made over his inactivity. Hamlets questions were not answered directly and has trouble thinking straight. From his doubts of killing Claudius to making the kingdom believe he is insane. The protagonist desires to avenge his father's death but the exactness of the murder is unclear. He has trouble deciding when and how to kill his uncle. Hamlet tells the ghost that he will focus on his revenge, "I'll wipe away all trivial fond records, / All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past," (1.5.99-100). Yet he procrastinates his revenge to the very end. Another inconsistency with Hamlet was his relationship towards Ophelia. The protagonist was on and off with his love for her eventually pushing her away, claiming he never loved her, he says, “You should not have believed me; for virtue, cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it: I loved you not”, (3.1. 116-118). He is known to love Ophelia under the surface but succumbs to his desire for revenge and tells her he does not have feelings for her. Yet he gets upset when she is told to stay away from him, showing feelings towards her leading up to her