“There remains, then, the character between these two extremes—that of a man who is not eminently good and just—yet whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty. He must be one who is highly renowned and prosperous—a personage like Oedipus, Thyestes, or other illustrious men of such families...”

-Aristotle, Poetics

“…for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

-Matthew 5:45b

The tragic flaws of many characters in Hamlet may be written on their sleeves. Yet one has to ponder the true, tragic flaw of the titular hero. It cannot be the desire for revenge. After all, his acts are not only just, but sanctioned by heaven, considering his father’s very ghost returns to prompt him to these actions. Rather, I believe Hamlet examines the connection between language and life, and indecision and its consequences on those who fail to act promptly.

The connection between language and life can be seen more subtly yet prominently throughout the text. Hamlet’s father reveals his uncle as the murderer via metaphor in his first meeting with Hamlet. He uses metaphors to describe and enhance the cunning and deviousness of Claudius to further spur Hamlet’s anger and desire for revenge.

“Angels and ministers of grace defend us! Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn’d, bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell, be thy intents wicked or charitable, thou com’st in such a questionable shape that I will speak to thee.”

-Hamlet 1.5.780-784

He also compares Claudius to Satan with the metaphor of a serpent. “…the serpent that did sting thy father’s life now wears his crown.” (Hamlet 1.5.776-778) This carries over into the play-within-a-play scene. Hamlet depicts the murder of Gonzago and narrates the event of the murder emulating his father’s murder. “’A Poisons him I’ th’ garden for his estate.” (Hamlet 3.2.2149) This further image of the garden could be seen as a metaphor for the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. Claudius (the ‘serpent”) poisoned King Hamlet’s ear like how Eve was tempted by Satan’s “poison” words in Eden. Both incidents lead to death, in Claudius’ case, physical, and in Adam and Eve’s case, spiritual. This could be a further metaphor for Hamlet being poisoned by desire for revenge rather than justice. This especially since this stunt telegraphs his intent to Claudius, which leads to his own death and the deaths of those he loves.

In a later scene, Hamlet reflects upon seeing the gravedigger fooling with a skull,

“That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once. How the knave jowls it to the ground,as if ‘twere Cain’s jawbone, that did the first murther! This might be the pate of a Politician, which this ass now o’erreaches; one that would circumvent God, might it not?”

-Hamlet 5.1.3418-3422

The inability to speak is seen as the ultimate inability to act and, therefore, a sign of death. Language is what signifies sentience or separates man from beast. “Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own grinning? Quite chap- fall’n?” (Hamlet 5.1.3519-3522) Hamlet, conversely, feels unable to speak his woe which convinces him if he cannot have the chief thing that guarantees life, then he might as well be dead or a beast. “What is man, if his chief good and market be but to sleep and feed? A beast no more. Sure he that made us with such large discourse, looking before and after, gave us not that capability and godlike reason to fust in us unus’d.” (Hamlet 4.4.2822-2824)

Hamlet uses metaphor to convey the distaste he has for his mother and his bitterness he has for her hasty remarriage. “Frailty, thy name is woman.” (Hamlet 1.2.350) The use of metaphor further serves to connect language and life. This could be seen as a more explicit examination of the fact that the entirety of language is metaphor. This is because all language stands in for the objects and physical and conceptual realities of life. If I speak of a baseball, but do not have one with me for you to see, you still know what I am talking about and can picture it. The word “baseball” stands in as a metaphor for the physical object I am trying to evoke. Through extensive use of metaphor, Hamlet connects the conceptual torments of his heart to physical reality. “O that this too too sullied flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew.” (Hamlet 1.2.333-334) By use of metaphor, Hamlet expresses his wish that he could melt away, precluding his first, open proclamation of desire for suicide. He wishes for nonexistence in whatever form that may best come. He further expresses his disdain for the world in saying, “'Tis an unweeded garden that grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature possess it merely.” (Hamlet 1.2.339-341) The soliloquy to Yorick’s skull could also be seen as a metaphor for death and equality in the afterlife. “Now get you to my lady’s chamber…let her paint an inch thick, to this favor she must come.” (Hamlet 5.1.3522-3524) Herein Hamlet ponders that no matter what your standing in life, all people go to the same place in the end, that being the grave. He previously told this to Claudius’ face when questioned where he had hidden Polonius’ body. “A man may fish with a worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.” (Hamlet 4.3.2738-2739) Hamlet himself uses metaphor to Laertes by use of double entende, demonstrating the adversity between them and that he would be the latter’s downfall. He says, “I’ll be your foil, Laertes,” (Hamlet 5.2.3895) with foil both referring to the fencing foil he would use to duel and the character foil he would be to Laertes. He acts as a foil in that his cautious and philosophical, while Laertes is impulsive, and action driven. Hamlet overthought his actions and delayed vengeance for his father while Laertes acted impulsively to enact his vengeance as soon as possible for his own father. This can be seen in the exchange between Laertes and the king when the latter told him of Hamlet’s murder of Polonius. “‘What would you undertake to show yourself your father’s son in deed more than in words?’ ‘To cut his throat i’ th’ church!’” (Hamlet 4.7.3268-3271)

The connection between language and life is also made apparent in Hamlet’s frustration with the emptiness of language and the division between words and meaning. Hence why Hamlet, in response to Polonius, replies, “Words, words, words.” (Hamlet 2.2.1296) This suggests the inadequacy of words to convey deeper meaning and perhaps pain such as Hamlet is feeling. He further expresses this after speaking with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. He emphasizes how he has reduced himself to bandying words instead of taking action. “Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave, that I, the son of a dear father murther’d, prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, must (like a whore) unpack my heart with words and fall a-cursing like a very drab, a scullion!” (Hamlet 2.2.1657-1662) Yet despite what Hamlet sees as the insufficiency of language to convey deeper meaning, others derive much meaning from his words. Polonius’ reaction to Hamlet’s mad words suggests to him that there is a deeper meaning behind the prince’s use of language. “Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.” (Hamlet 2.2.207-208) Hence, Polonius in conversing with Hamlet, examines directly the connection between language and meaning. Claudius also discerns deeper meaning in Hamlet's words when he sees him reject Ophelia. “There is something in his soul and I do not doubt the hatch and the disclose will be some danger.” (Hamlet 3.1.167-170) Though Hamlet’s words seem gibberish, Claudius correctly discerns there is a deeper problem that spurred him to act the way he does. The play carries this connection between language and life beyond mere metaphor. Hamlet’s use of the play within a play also demonstrates the ability of language and storytelling to provoke action and expose truth. “I have heard that guilty creatures sitting at a play have…proclaimed their malefactions.” (Hamlet 2.2.601-604) The connection carries through to Hamlet’s final words in the play, “So tell him, with th’ occurrents, more and less, which have solicited—the rest is silence.” (Hamlet 5.2.358-359) This reflects that the fate of all language in the end is the silence of death, reinforcing the limits of words in the face of mortality. Hence, language is again emphasized as the sign of life and sentience.

There is also a more personal connection between language and life in Hamlet. This comes from not just his inability to find the right words, but the caution he must exercise to conceal his feelings throughout the play. He cannot come out and openly express his disdain for his mother’s marriage or reveal later the discovery of foul play. It is not just the emptiness of language, but that the power there is in language has been stripped from him. He even compares himself to an actor forced into a role rather than giving voice to his pain. “Yet I…peak like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause, and can say nothing.” (Hamlet 2.2.578-580) This goes back to his first speech after the marriage of his mother and Claudius. “But break my heart, for I must hold my tongue.” (Hamlet 1.2.159) It is not merely his grief which torments him, but his inability to freely express it. This is only exacerbated when he learns the truth of his father’s death and must keep quiet until an opportunity arises. He must use wit and wordplay to mask his feelings and intentions and probe others. “A little more than kin, and less than kind!” (Hamlet 1.2.65) By saying this, he challenges Claudius’ attempts to act like a father and expresses contempt for him. He also must conceal his true intelligence and the counterfeit of his madness from the king and hints such to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. “I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.” (Hamlet 2.2.386-387) Hamlet also expressed to Ophelia in his rejection of her that he cannot say what he truly means and laments that no one truly can. He is drowning in a world where no one, himself included, can express themselves openly and honestly. “We are arrant knaves all; believe none of us.” (Hamlet 3.1.129-130) Despite even this tragic precaution, he unwittingly wounds Ophelia’s mental state further. He also heightens Claudius’ suspicion. Indulging in his grief, he says too much in Claudius’ hearing despite his attempts at deception and thereby telegraphs his intent. “I say we will have no more marriage. Those that are married already—all but one—shall live.” (Hamlet 3.1.149-151) Before the closet scene where he confronts Gertrude, he acknowledges that though he can say what he wants, he must hold back to protect his mother. “I will speak daggers to her, but use none. My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites…” (Hamlet 3.3.404-405) Hence, conscience now binds his feelings and prevents free expression. He can voice his disapproval of her marriage, but not his suspicion of his uncle’s guilt. He also knows that while he can express what he wants, that will not change anything.

The theme of indecision presents itself throughout the play in Hamlet’s slowness to act even in the face of this revelation of murder. This, despite his vow to remember the ghost’s charge to him and focus on it alone. “…thy commandment all alone shall live within the book and volume of my brain, unmixed with baser matter.” (Hamlet 1.5.102-104) Rather than act immediately on the information his father has given him, Hamlet chooses to feign madness to hide his intentions and garner more information to confirm what the ghost told him. By doing so, he wastes time and only puts more eyes on him when he could have stricken his uncle down without anyone suspecting him. “Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit…I will be brief. Your noble son is mad.” (Hamlet 2.2.90-92) His family and friends consequently alienate him, and in his acting, he treats Ophelia cruelly which is a later factor in her later emotional breakdown and death. “You should not have believed me…I loved you not…Get thee to a nunnery…” (Hamlet 3.1.117-121) Beyond even this, grief further fuels Hamlet’s feelings of indecision. It leads him to get caught up in his own existential musing when he should be acting on his father’s words. Life and the hereafter have made themselves known and given him a purpose towards justice. Yet he debates whether anything has purpose and contemplates suicide.

“For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, th’ oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely, the pangs of despis’d love, the law’s delay, the insolence of office, and the spurns that patient merit of th’ unworthy takes, when he himself might his quietus make with a bare bodkin? Who would these fardels bear, to grunt and sweat under a weary life, but that the dread of something after death-the undiscover’d country, from whose bourn no traveller returns- puzzles the will, and makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of?”

-Hamlet 3.1763-1775

In this famous speech, Hamlet is so caught up in his own morbid navel gazing that he does not realize that he may find purpose in the dealing out of justice. The hereafter has made itself known to him and extended him a hand in bringing about the justice he longs for. For all his complaints about the lack of justice, he obtains a chance to execute it and is too preoccupied. How ironic it is then that he acknowledges in his last lines that purposes can be over thought and, “enterprises of great pith and moment with this regard their currents turn awry and lose the name of action.” (Hamlet 3.1.1779-1781) He laments how we are too preoccupied by overthinking to take the plunge and end suffering, but here he is overthinking and doing nothing to execute justice and give balm for his grief. He even gets a second chance to kill his uncle in secret, but overthinks the circumstances, driven by malice and desire for Claudius’ suffering. It is then he becomes preoccupied with revenge rather than justice.

“Now might I do it pat, now he is praying; and now I’ll do’t. And so he goes to heaven, and so am I reveng’d. That would be scann’d. A villain kills my father; and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven. Why, this is hire and salary, not revenge! He took my father grossly, full of bread, with all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May; and how his audit stands, who knows save heaven? But in our circumstance and course of thought, ‘tis heavy with him; and am I then reveng’d, to take him in the purging of his soul, when he is fit and seasoned for his passage? No. Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent. When he is drunk asleep; or in his rage; or in th’ incestuous pleasure of his bed; at gaming, swearing, or about some act that has no relish of salvation in’t-then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven, and that his soul may be as damn’d and black as hell, whereto it goes.”

-Hamlet 3.3.2356-2378

When Hamlet himself sees the advance of Fortinbras’ troops upon Denmark, he acknowledges his indecision and failure to act promptly.

“How stand I then, that have a father kill’d, a mother stain’d, excitements of my reason and my blood, and let all sleep, while to my shame I see the imminent death of twenty thousand men that for a fantasy and trick of fame go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot whereon the numbers cannot try the cause, which is not tomb enough and continent to hide the slain? O, from this time forth, my thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!”

-Hamlet 4.4.2845-2855

His indecision also, by extension, causes the death of the woman he loves and her father. After overplaying his hand by testing his uncle’s guilt with the play, Polonius is sent to spy on him, which leads to Hamlet killing him. “Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell! I took thee for thy better.” (Hamlet 3.4.2421-2422) Hamlet himself even acknowledges his delay in carrying out justice when confronted a second time by his father’s ghost. “Do you not come your tardy son to chide, that, laps’d in time and passion, lets go by
Th’ important acting of your dread command?” (Hamlet 3.4.2504-2506) This rash act of killing Polonius leads to Ophelia going mad with grief. “…poor Ophelia divided from herself and her fair judgement, without the which we are pictures or mere beasts.” (Hamlet 4.5.2945-2947) She later drowns in a river, making her another unnecessary casualty in Hamlet’s revenge.

“There is a willow grows aslant a brook, that shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream. There with fantastic garlands did she come of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples, that liberal shepherds give a grosser name, but our cold maids do dead men’s fingers call them. There on the pendant boughs her coronet weeds clamb’ring to hang, an envious sliver broke, when down her weedy trophies and herself fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide and, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up; which time she chaunted snatches of old tunes, as one incapable of her own distress, or like a creature native and indued unto that element; but long it could not be till that her garments, heavy with their drink, pull’d the poor wretch from her melodious lay to muddy death.”

-Hamlet 4.7.3315-3332

All this could have been avoided had Hamlet not delayed his purpose and acted swiftly on his father’s revenge. When Ophelia dies, Hamlet not only loses the woman he loves, but makes an enemy of Laertes, who becomes the instrument of his downfall. He even antagonizes Laertes at Ophelia’s burial, only fueling the brother’s hate and convincing him to conspire with Claudius. “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up my sum.” (Hamlet 5.1.3613-3615) With Ophelia’s death, Hamlet believes he has lost everything, further distracting himself from his purpose. His subsequent antagonization of Laertes gives Claudius a route to manipulate them both. He continues to be emotional rather than decisive. By delaying and telegraphing his moves, he unwittingly drew innocents into the crossfire and doomed himself. Had he taken one of the many opportunities to exact justice and not telegraphed his intent, he might have even lived happily with Ophelia. He might also have called Laertes a brother. His own mother hoped so as well. “Sweets to the sweet! Farewell. I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet’s wife; I thought thy bride-bed to have deck’d, sweet maid, and not have strew’d thy grave.” (Hamlet 5.1.3579-3582)

Hamlet’s constant belaboring over what seems versus what is a core conceit of the play and a major flaw in his character. Before he even sees his father’s ghost or hears its tale of fratricide, he hears evidence of its genuine existence from Horatio, Bernado, and Marcellus. “‘My lord, I think I saw him yesternight.’ ‘Saw? Who?’ My lord, the king your father.’” (Hamlet 1.2.396-398) Therefore, he not only hears the veracity of the tale from three witnesses beforehand but later confirms it when he himself speaks to the ghost. “Angels and ministers of grace defend us! Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn’d, bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell, be thy intents wicked or charitable, thou com’st in such a questionable shape that I will speak to thee.” (Hamlet 1.4.668-673) Nevertheless, he is too indecisive and still believes his mind or other powers may be tricking him.

“The spirit that I have seen may be a devil; and the devil hath power t’ assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps out of my weakness and my melancholy, as he is very potent with such spirits, abuses me to damn me. I’ll have grounds more relative than this. The play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King.”

-Hamlet 2.2.1673-1680

This despite all evidence of the ghost, his friends’ testimonies, and his own eyes and ears. “I knew your father. These hands are not more like.” (Hamlet 1.2.211-212) This is especially strange, considering he already considers his uncle a lustful opportunist by marrying with his mother so soon after his father’s death. “O most wicked speed to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets!” (Hamlet 1:2:156-157) So it is that he essentially telegraphs his move to Claudius by hiring players to act out a drama similar to his father’s death in order to gauge his reaction. “I’ll have these Players play something like the murther of my father before mine uncle. I’ll observe his looks; I’ll tent him to the quick. If he but blench, I know my course.” (Hamlet 2.2.1669-1673) On the one hand, he gets confirmation from Claudius’ reaction that he is guilty. “O good Horatio, I’ll take the ghost’s word for a thousand pound.” (Hamlet 3.2.292-293) Yet he also overplays his hand in doing so, convincing Claudius that he is dangerous to him. In this way, Hamlet allows Claudius to take action against him by sending him to England for a while whilst he manipulates Laertes and plots Hamlet’s death. Hamlet has lost the element of surprise.

“And, England, if my love thou hold’st at aught,-as my great power thereof may give thee sense, since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red after the Danish sword, and thy free awe pays homage to us,- thou mayst not coldly set our sovereign process, which imports at full, by letters congruing to that effect, the present death of Hamlet. Do it, England; for like the hectic in my blood he rages, and thou must cure me. Till I know ‘tis done, howe’er my haps, my joys were ne’er begun.”

-Hamlet 4.3.2773-2783

His belaboring over what seems versus what is also complicates his relationship with Ophelia. His bitterness towards Gertrude for her disloyalty makes him see all women as weak or deceitful. “I have heard of your paintings too, well enough. God hath given you one face, and you make yourselves another.” (Hamlet 3.1.1834-1835) He ends up venting his bitterness against his mother on Ophelia. In a way, even if he does not believe his mother took direct action to betray his father, he believes that her nature made her a pawn for Claudius and a cause of the conflict. She is a sort of Helen of Troy in his eyes, being the impetus for conflict between brothers and being too ignorant and helpless to prevent the conflict she causes. Because of this shattered trust, he feels Ophelia too is weak willed, giving in to the demands of her father and toying with his heart. He could also be venting on her a bitterness towards his mother for simply having been a temptation that drove Claudius to murder his father.

“If thou dost marry, I’ll give thee this plague for thy dowry: be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery. Go, farewell. Or if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them. To a nunnery, go; and quickly too. Farewell.”

-Hamlet 3.1.1827-1832

Had he not been so mistrusting; he could have married Ophelia after avenging his father and begun a journey of healing. He could have enacted justice and brought about a happy ending for himself and her family.

Hamlet’s indecision can be connected to various types of internal and external conflict throughout the story. The first I have demonstrated is indecision. He is so caught up in his own philosophical musings and thoughts of vengeance that he delays the act of justice. The external conflict of his father’s death and his mother’s marriage to his uncle are catalysts for his melancholy. “Within a month, ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears had left the flushing in her galled eyes, she married.” (Hamlet 1.2.357-360) This melancholy compounds with the later knowledge of his father’s murder by Claudius. Together, this prompts him to further melancholic musing over the meaning of life. It blinds him and keeps him from promptly executing justice until it is too late. In fact, the pressure of the command of his dead father on him serves as another external conflict that torments his already morose and tormented mind. He suffers from weighty responsibility, woe of his father’s death, existential dread, the political power and machinations of Claudius, and pressure from his mother, Gertrude. “This is the very coinage of your brain. This bodiless creation ecstasy is very cunning in.” (Hamlet 3.4.2539-2541) Gertrude pressures him from the very beginning, urging him to move on from his father’s death and accept her hasty marriage.

“Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off, and let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. Do not for ever with thy vailed lids seek for thy noble father in the dust. Thou know’st ‘tis common. All that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity.”

-Hamlet 1.2.270-275

Hamlet’s own aforementioned suicidal thoughts also contribute to his indecision in no small amount. Despite his love for Gertrude, he feels she is to some degree responsible for his father’s death or that she is weak willed and disloyal. He feels betrayed by her, resents her for her hasty marriage to Claudius and berates her for it. “A murder and a villain! A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe of your precedent lord; a vice of kings; a cutpurse of the empire and the rule, that from a shelf the precious diadem stole and put it in his pocket!” (Hamlet 3.4.2492-2497) Nevertheless, he also feels protective of her, and together with his suspicions of her complicity, this complicates his resolve to act. He also feels concern for her spiritual wellbeing by her weak will and marriage to his uncle and tells her to separate from Claudius for her own good.

“Confess yourself to heaven, repent what’s past, avoid what is to come; and do not spread the compost on the weeds to make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue; for in the fatness of these pursy times virtue itself of vice must pardon beg-yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good.”

-Hamlet 3.4.2552-2558

The external conflict of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who are sent by Claudius to spy on him, also complicates his planning and prompt action.

“Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me! You
would play upon me; you would seem to know my stops; you would
pluck out the heart of my mystery; you would sound me from my
lowest note to the top of my compass; and there is much music,2245
excellent voice, in this little organ, yet cannot you make it
speak. ‘Sblood, do you think I am easier to be play’d on than a
pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me,
you cannot play upon me.”

-Hamlet 3.2.2242-2249

Polonius also serves as a source of external conflict for Hamlet by constantly interfering with his life. Polonius forbids Ophelia from seeing Hamlet, isolating him emotionally. “This is for all: I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth have you so slander any moment leisure as to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet. Look to’t, I charge you. Come your ways.” (Hamlet 1.3.618-622)

He also acts as Claudius’ spy, making him more paranoid and putting more pressure on him. His own perpetual interference leads him to put himself more in Hamlet’s way when the prince in becoming increasingly unstable. This leads to his own death when Hamlet mistakes him for Claudius behind the arras. “Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell! I took thee for thy better.” (Hamlet 3.4.2421-2422) Because of this mistake prompted by Polonius’ interference, Hamlet is sent to England, Claudius realizes he is dangerous to him, Ophelia goes insane and drowns, and Laertes seeks revenge, resulting in their mutual demise.

There is also the external conflict of Horatio’s expectations as his friend that complicates his state of mind. Horatio’s own warnings, when Hamlet first saw the spirit of his father, could be seen as affecting his later indecision and desire to confirm guilt with the play-within-a-play scene.

“What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord, or to the dreadful summit of the cliff that beetles o’er his base into the sea, and there assume some other, horrible form which might deprive your sovereignty of reason and draw you into madness? Think of it. The very place puts toys of desperation, without more motive, into every brain that looks so many fadoms to the sea and hears it roar beneath.”

-Hamlet 1.4.702-711

In a way, perhaps, Horatio’s stoicism could be seen as inspiring Hamlet’s desire to think everything out before acting. Horatio is his model of self-control and rationality that he strives for in the face of the turmoil and indecision he faces in his life. “Give me that man that is not passion’s slave, and I will wear him in my heart’s core, ay, in my heart of heart, as I do thee.” (Hamlet 3.2.1950-1953) Horatio’s unshaking loyalty to Hamlet throughout also spurs him to become cautious, yet perhaps overcautious. While Horatio is simply looking out for his friend, he unwittingly serves as an extra pressure on Hamlet. He unwittingly acts as Hamlet’s moral compass throughout the play.

“For thou hast been as one, in suff’ring all, that suffers nothing; a man that Fortune’s buffets and rewards hast ta’en with equal thanks; and blest are those whose blood and judgment are so well commingled that they are not a pipe for Fortune’s finger to sound what stop she please.”

-Hamlet 3.2.1944-1950

He trusts Horatio even more, initially, than the ghost of his own father. This makes Hamlet over-analyze everything to ensure his actions are justifiable. Horatio is the only person privy to all his thoughts and actions. This follows through to the end, where he gives Horatio his final charge to act as the witness to his story. Horatio is the only person he trusts to be true in all things. He trusts Horatio over even the specter of his father.

There is also the external political conflict of Claudius’ contested rise to the throne after King Hamlet died. Finally, there is the campaign of young Fortinbras of Norway to capitalize on Denmark’s internecine power struggle and take over.

“Now, sir, young Fortinbras, of unimproved mettle hot and full, hath in the skirts of Norway, here and there, shark’d up a list of lawless resolutes, for food and diet, to some enterprise that hath a stomach in’t; which is no other, as it doth well appear unto our state, but to recover of us, by strong hand and terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands so by his father lost; and this, I take it, is the main motive of our preparations, the source of this our watch, and the chief head of this post-haste and romage in the land.”

-Hamlet 1.1.112-124

This external conflict proposes a looming threat to Hamlet, who is so caught up in his melancholy and conflict over vengeance that he is unable to stop the Danish invasion in the end. Through his indecision and delay, Hamlet left his people without a king or leader of any sort and forfeited his people to Norway. More simply, the external conflict of killing Claudius, the king of Denmark, provides more than a few external conflicts that absolutely contribute to his indecision. Hence, whether Hamlet knows it is just to kill the king, he must be sure he is certain about anything before acting. After all, with Norway already on track to invade, he must be certain what he is doing is right before divesting his people of a king. Despite the treachery that put him on the throne, Claudius does have the full support of the court. This would paint Hamlet as a traitor instead of a savior if he killed Claudius rashly.

The final consequences of Hamlet’s indecision are cemented after Ophelia’s death. He engages with her grief-stricken brother in a duel rather than focus on the task of justice.

“Sir, I will walk here in the hall. If it please his Majesty, it is the breathing time of day with me. Let the foils be brought, the gentleman willing, and the King hold his purpose, I will win for him if I can; if not, I will gain nothing but my shame and the odd hits.”

-Hamlet 5.2.3813-3817

He also fails in his shortsightedness to see that this could be a plot by Claudius to kill him. He especially should suspect this after he discovered Claudius hired Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to deliver him up for execution.

“Up from my cabin, my sea-gown scarf’d about me, in the dark grop’d I to find out them; had my desire, finger’d their packet, and in fine withdrew to mine own room again; making so bold (my fears forgetting manners) to unseal their grand commission; where I found, Horatio (O royal knavery!), an exact command, larded with many several sorts of reasons, importing Denmark’s health, and England’s too, with, hoo! such bugs and goblins in my life-that, on the supervise, no leisure bated, no, not to stay the finding of the axe, my head should be struck off.”

-Hamlet 5.2.3662-3575

Nevertheless, he contents himself to have thwarted Claudius and does not suspect Laertes' desire of vengeance. How ironic it is that his indecision causes so much grief throughout the play, and then the one moment he acts promptly, he seals his fate. For the first time, he ironically does not belabor over what seems versus what is. This is connected to the internal conflict of his own existential musing beforehand. He is so fatalistic and cares so little about his own life that he does not think of the other lives at stake.

“Not a whit, we defy augury; there’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, ‘tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all. Since no man knows aught of what he leaves, what is’t to leave betimes? Let be.”

-Hamlet 5.2.3853-3857

Because of this, both Laertes, whom he feels remorse for wounding prior to the duel, and Hamlet’s mother, will die for his inaction. Because he accepts the duel, he allows Claudius and Laertes to prepare the poisoned cup and sword.

“I will do’t! And for that purpose I’ll anoint my sword. I bought an unction of a mountebank, so mortal that, but dip a knife in it, where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare, collected from all simples that have virtue under the moon, can save the thing from death this is but scratch’d withal. I’ll touch my point with this contagion, that, if I gall him slightly, it may be death.”

-Hamlet 4.7.3285-3294

This acts as the final external conflict pressuring Hamlet. He underestimated how decisive and quick his enemies would be to act after being too indecisive and delaying all the time himself. While he does not drink the cup, he is still stricken by the poisoned sword, which seals his doom. Likewise, he makes his mother an unwitting casualty when she drinks the poison wine that was meant for him. “No, no, the drink, the drink! O my dear Hamlet! The drink, the drink! I am poisoned.” (Hamlet 5.2.3965-3966) Finally, Laertes, the brother of his late love, Ophelia, dies by his poisoned tip. “Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe, Osric. I am justly killed with mine own treachery.” (Hamlet 5.2.3962) So it is that while Hamlet achieves justice for his father, it has come at the expense of his life, his mother’s life, and the lives of Ophelia and her family.

Hamlet realizes too late just before their duel what harm his madness did to Laertes. As such, he even admits and asks forgiveness before the duel, “Sir, in this audience, let my disclaiming from a purpos’d evil free me so far in your most generous thoughts that I have shot my arrow o’er the house and hurt my brother.” (Hamlet 5.2.3877-3881) In his attempts to harm or sus out Claudius, he has harmed those he had no quarrel with. Hence, he makes Laertes an enemy when his only quarrel was with Claudius. Even then, he still underestimates Laertes and only realizes at the end that he has doomed himself. He has also wounded his best friend, Horatio, by leaving him helpless to save him and with no recourse to but to bear witness and live with the pain of his passing. “O good Horatio, what a wounded name (things standing thus unknown) shall live behind me! If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart, absent thee from felicity awhile, and in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain to tell my story.” (Hamlet 5.2.4004-4009) This is doubly tragic when you consider Horatio tried to keep him from undoing himself the whole time. “If your mind dislike anything, obey it. I will forestall their repair hither and say you are not fit.” (Hamlet 5.2.3851-3852) Thereby, he gave Horatio an unwarranted feeling of responsibility and failure towards his friend. “Never believe it. I am more an antique Roman than a Dane. Here’s yet some liquor left.” (Hamlet 5.2.3999-4001) This would be even harder on Horatio, who probably believes that none of this would have happened had he not told Hamlet about the ghost in the first place.

So it is that we see Hamlet’s crime was not madness, mercilessness, nor revenge, but indecision and a failure to act promptly. While divine justice was meted out in the end, it came at the cost of innocents and useless bloodshed. His failure to act immediately on his father’s command he would not have set off the tragic, chain reaction. Had he not feigned madness, he would not have drawn the king’s attention and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern would not have been summoned. Had he not telegraphed his intent with his play, he would not have incited suspicion in the king. Had he not incited the king to install Polonius, he would not have killed him by mistake. If he had not killed Polonius, he would not have been sent to Norway and given his uncle time to plot. By extension, he would not have driven Ophelia to madness and suicide. If he had not slain Polonius and Ophelia directly and indirectly, he would not have incited Laertes to plot against him. Had he not incited Laertes to plot against him, he would not have claimed both his mother and Laertes as casualties as well. Had he not set himself up to be tricked and poisoned, he would not have left his friend Horatio to carry the pain of his loss. Finally, had he not allowed himself to be governed by indecision, he might have dealt with his uncle quickly. Then, he might have ascended the throne, married Ophelia, and led his people to victory against Norway. Instead, he failed to act decisively, preserve the royal family, and prevent invasion from a foreign power. While Hamlet considered himself unlucky and doomed from the start, he could have easily had a happy ending had he seen past the end of his own nose and fulfilled his duty. The metaphors throughout demonstrate this point and give voice to the conflict in Hamlet’s mind.

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