Instinct Strikes Back

Bam! Star Wars.
But that is not why we are here.

In the course of life, it's normal for people to have conflicts. After all, we are by no means perfect beings (and we know such things would probably not exist). Conflicts are, of course, meant to be resolved. Hopefully. And how do we do that?

Let me answer that question with a question. When you're faced with a dilemma, do you resolve it using logic, or do you stick with your gut feeling?
That didn't really answer the question did it.

Anyways, some people tend to stick to instinct, while others might think things through carefully, calculating every single probability. What's so fascinating about Hamlet from Hamlet is that he seems to have a mixture of both. He thinks things through, maybe a bit too 'through', but he does it nevertheless. He thinks of his actions, his consequences, and so on. He reaches conclusions that he must take certain actions, and he seems to be quite sure of these decisions at the moment, but when the actual time comes, he simply cannot. There's something else at work.


This is where instinct comes into play (Get it? Play? *laughs*). Hamlet's human instinct, in the end, doesn't allow Hamlet to do things according to plan, leaving the conflict the way it was, or sometimes, leaves it worse than in was before.

That is, in my opinion, the source of Hamlet's character: Two distinct forces clashing in his head, creating thunderstorms and muffin eating ponies that bite a part of the brain off, only to tape it back again with superglue (which obviously leads to Hamlet's uncertainty). He's back to the place he started at, except that he has now lost the map.


This is weird, because Hamlet knows what he has to do. Hamlet knows that he should kill Claudius, and that is what he intends to do. He knows, and yet does not do. He always seems to be delaying his task more and more, excuses running out of his mouth like people trying to get off a plane all at once.

Hamlet always has a reason for his failure and just lets the occasion fly over his head, but in reality, this might be the same thing as those excuses you make when you don't do your homework. You technically did do your homework, in that you made it one sentence into the essay. You didn't lie, but you didn't mention that you didn't even finish the homework.

Same situation here. What Hamlet says is, or could be, partially true. However, somewhere deep inside, there is something else causing the uncertainty.
And boom. Instinct has struck again.