ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Hamlet’s procrastination could have been attributed to either his obsession with his mother, his way of thinking, his father’s death or all of the above. However, the fact is that the habitual deferment of his duties eventually led to the death of most of the people who closely associated with him.

Detailed explanation-2: -Hamlet is a procrastinator. Faced with the imperative act of bloody revenge, his intellect, his philosophical bent, his morality and his own emotional instability, it is impossible for him to act swiftly and decisively. He has to be sure of Claudius’ guilt.

Detailed explanation-3: -Hamlet delays killing Claudius because Claudius represents Hamlet’s innermost desires to sleep with his mother Gertrude. And by killing Claudius, Hamlet would be killing a part of himself.

Detailed explanation-4: -The first major quote that suggests Hamlet’s flaw of procrastination is, “Haste me to know’t; that I, with wings as swift/ As meditation or the thoughts of love, / May sweep to my revenge” (Hamlet, Act I: Scene v, 29-31). This quote is spoken by Hamlet to the Ghost of Hamlet’s father.