Why Does Hamlet Procrastinate?

What we must keep in mind in discussing the above question is that the real question does not concern a historical figure with the name of Hamlet, but rather the intentions (if any) of his creator, Shakespeare. The true problem, therefore, is put like this: Why does Shakespeare make the hero of his tragedy procrastinate? After arguing that neither the difficulty of Hamlet's outer circumstances nor his melancholy temper or philosophic bent gives in itself a sufficient expl anation to his procrastination, the author of the present paper proposes that the best theory derives Hamlet's hesitation from his conscience. Professor Harold Goddard, in his recent book, interprets that Hamlet oscillates between revenge and resignation, because he faces the choice not between duty and cowardice, but between devilish revenge and divine toleration: namely between sin and grace. Thus Goddard reflects one-sidedly on the religious norms, while the older conscience theory reflected one-sidedly upon the secular or vocational norms. The present writer believes, however, that Shakespeare's Hamlet struggles with both norms, the one kind consciously and the other subconsciously, but in such a way that he hesitates to obey the first (i. e., the secular norms). The conflict in Hamlet's soul is not the conflict between suicide and action, but between surrender to God and revenge on his uncle. For Hamlet to revenge his father on his uncle is his worldly duty; to leave it to the wrath of God is a religious absolute, but each has relative validity. Hence the real and most tormenting trouble to Hamlet. It is therefore in the last analysis not a conflict between God and the Devil, as Goddard puts it, but the conflict between God and the world, which buries Hamlet. In other words, the conflict which Shakespeare depicts here is not seen with the eyes of a medieval Catholic, but rather with the eyes of a modern Protestant