Indecision In Hamlet

Samuel Coleridge’s lecture highlights the excruciating internal conflict that Hamlet faces throughout the play. Coleridge states that Hamlet is “a man living in meditation, called upon to act by every motive human and divine, but the great object of his life is defeated by continually resolving to do, yet doing nothing but resolve.” Hamlet’s tragic flaw is that he cannot make a decision in an appropriate amount of time. Throughout Acts I-III, Hamlet struggles with indecision about almost every decision he has to make, but after Hamlet stabs Polonius, his mentality changes. Act III Scenes i, iii, and iv contain some notable examples of Hamlet’s severe indecision and uncertainty. Yet, in Act V, Hamlet becomes less hesitant, and finally begins to make some decisions. Based on the situations Hamlet encounters and the outcomes of his decisions, the degree of his indecisiveness changes over the course of the play.

The opening line of Hamlet’s soliloquy contains the profound question “To be, or not to be…” (63), and Hamlet continues on for thirty-three more lines debating this question. Hamlet even highlights his own indecision when he states, “Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles…” (63). Hamlet cannot even decide if he should keep on living, much less kill Claudius to avenge his father’s death. At this point in the play, Hamlet knows he needs to avenge his father’s death, but he does not know how to accomplish his goal and is afraid of the consequences of his