The Inner Struggle With Procrastination In Shakespeare's Hamlet

In William Shakespeare's tragic play Hamlet, the main character Prince Hamlet has an inner struggle with procrastination throughout the length of the play. It is this tragic flaw of procrastination that eventually brings about Hamlet's downfall. Prince Hamlet is given a number of opportunities Hamlet to kill his uncle/step-father Claudius to avenge his father's murder. Yet, he fails to do so. Hamlet justifies this procrastination and hesitation to kill Claudius in his own mind and to the audience by assuring the reliability of his father's ghost claim that he was killed by now King Claudius in an successful attempt to take the throne and the queen. Earlier audiences and critics of this great Shakespearean play were content with this notion that Hamlet must be sure of the credibility of the ghost.
(Bevington, 299) While arguable in the beginning of the play, this theory becomes invalid because Hamlet had more opportunities after his overhearing King Claudius direct confession. Others argue religion plays a large part in his procrastination; in particular, his hesitation after Claudius' direct confession while praying. Another argument is that Hamlet's melancholy (his father's death, his mother's remarriage, his loss of Ophelia in heart and mind, etc.) causes and "intensifies this inclination." (Bradley, 100) What seems to be the most likely reason for this procrastination is linked to his background as a student, trained in thought before action. In any case, this flaw caused the end of Hamlet and, in essence, the end to most of the other main