Is Hamlet Responsible For His Own Fate

In the play Hamlet, Hamlet declares, “conscience doth make cowards of us all” (129), which is an accurate statement and testimony to his own character. Hamlet had no control in the death of his father, causing Hamlet to find himself obsessed with revenge when he suspects that the man who killed his father was King Claudius. The decision of Hamlet to take action into his own hands leads Hamlet on a prolonged journey to avenge his father’s death, however Hamlet’s over analyzation and series of missed chances or opportunities to kill King Claudius, proves Hamlet to ultimately be procrastinator who is responsible for his own fate, whatever the outcome. Hamlet’s reoccurring problem throughout the play is his inability to follow through with his plans, and take action as he promised himself he would. Soliloquys come out of Hamlet’s mouth more often than a sword is drawn to Claudius. “To be or not to be-that is the question: Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or take arms against a sea of troubles…” (127). The proposal of suicide, is Hamlet’s way of coping with the drama in his life, and putting off the murder of King Claudius. Debating the topic of his own death provides evidence of Hamlet’s curiosity with questions of no definite answer.
Hamlet truly is a procrastinator, and also a master of his own fate. Hamlet often chooses to complain about his life, rather than act upon his dissatisfactions. He over contemplates, and misses chances to achieve his goal of seeking revenge on King Claudius. Because of Hamlet’s delayed decisions, he basically single handily kills all the main characters in the book. If Hamlet had killed Claudius at the beginning of the book, the tragic ending would have seized to exist. Thus, Hamlet is a procrastinator not only responsible for his own fate, but for the fate of the everyone else in the