Why I call myself Hamlet???
Before I begin this post, would like to mention some trivia… Hamlet, one of the most famous Shakespearean Heroes, was the prince of Denmark, son of the deceased King and nephew to the current King Claudius. It’s a story of love, lust, fame, power, money, murder, fear, death and revenge, and how the human brain works out to optimize an ideal life through all these in the journey called life. The ghost of Hamlet’s father guides him to take revenge on Claudius, his treacherous and lecherous brother, Hamlet’s uncle; who poisoned the Late King to death amidst his sleep. Claudius then successfully took over as the new King, and wooed the Late King’s widow as bride.
So begins a tale where desire for power and lust leads to murder. What remains now is Hamlet’s Revenge; for the death of a Father; for his mother’s love that he
was robbed off; for the throne that belonged to him but was take away; for the Kingdom to which he was the legal heir. And for Hamlet’s it wasn’t too tough. For he had everything with him that he needed. He was a gallant warrior, armed with the loyalty of the courtiers and the sympathy of the subjects of the nation.
So begins a tale where desire for power and lust leads to murder. What remains now is Hamlet’s Revenge; for the death of a Father; for his mother’s love that he
was robbed off; for the throne that belonged to him but was take away; for the Kingdom to which he was the legal heir. And for Hamlet’s it wasn’t too tough. For he had everything with him that he needed. He was a gallant warrior, armed with the loyalty of the courtiers and the sympathy of the subjects of the nation. Did he take revenge? Yes and No. Yes – because he was able to kill Claudius in the end. No – for he delayed his revenge so much that the purpose of the revenge had already lost its reason. Critics say that Hamlet is highly indecisive. He could not make up his mind. He often curses himself for not killing Claudius –
“Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave,
That I, the son of a dear father murder'd,
Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,
Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words”
That I, the son of a dear father murder'd,
Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,
Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words”
He even calls himself a coward, but for a warrior of Hamlet’s merit, that is not expected. A son of so brave a king can never be a coward.
“Yet I,
A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And can say nothing; no, not for a king
Upon whose property and most dear life
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And can say nothing; no, not for a king
Upon whose property and most dear life
A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward?”
Unlike the critics, I feel differently. Hamlet simply procrastinates. He has an aim (kill Claudius) and a reason (avenge his father’s death), but keeps delaying it till the last hour.
Here lies the missing link – the reason why I identify myself with Hamlet. I have an aim in life and a reason to fulfill it… But there’s something in me that bars me to – time and again. I procrastinate a lot. This is not laziness, for am never lazy to do anything. This is not lack of will or ambition, for I want to achieve a lot… But this somehow happens… days go by, and I find myself where I was… The day I know the reason, I guess I’ll learn a lot about myself.
Here lies the missing link – the reason why I identify myself with Hamlet. I have an aim in life and a reason to fulfill it… But there’s something in me that bars me to – time and again. I procrastinate a lot. This is not laziness, for am never lazy to do anything. This is not lack of will or ambition, for I want to achieve a lot… But this somehow happens… days go by, and I find myself where I was… The day I know the reason, I guess I’ll learn a lot about myself.
1 comment:
This is the third time I am reading this article, before I pen down something. Procrastinaion is not something unique which happens with you. It is something which happens with every human being though with a varying intensity. To the extent which I can think, I would say that procrastination is a direct result of human belief in rationality and logic, a will to hedge the present for a better future. We find fall short of taking actions today because we believe the "Rational" human beings belive that we can predict that what would be happeneing tomorrow, we assume that by doing what we are doing today or refraining ourselves from what we could have done today, we are investing in future. The reason behind this procrastination is the ability of brain to do a Scenario Analysis.
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