Hamlet's Humanity

... not mean he actually likes to think. Although he might have liked to think in the time preceding the play, when the time has come for him to take action, he cannot because of this urge to contemplate. His capacity of thinking becomes a handicap rather than an advantage. And this is not even the most painful or tragic part of the Hamlet character. The biggest problem is that he is aware of this. Not only is he incapable of acting without thinking, he knows that this is the case, which makes the burden even heavier. Hamlet cannot face reality. It is already a traumatic experience for him when he has to believe the words of the ghost, and actually the ghost's demanding him to act on this information is too much for him. Hamlet is however, a man of decision. But he is also contemplative. He needs to think in order to justify his actions, and his intellectual characteristics are the major difference between Claudius and himself. Hamlet is very aware of the relationship between action and reaction and realizes that he has to proceed very carefully. In the play, Claudius is the decisive character, and the man of action. He takes the first action, the action that sets the story in motion - the poisoning of Hamlet's fa ...