Whether we are planning to build a boat or hoping to write a good essay, the
only way to go about these tasks is to make a detailed plan of all the steps
that need to be taken in order to get the desired result. If you spontaneously
decide to build a boat, the result may be a plywood tub that leaks from all
sides, let alone hold anyone in it. Hamlet, a seventh century story put to life
through the amazing writing of Shakespeare, is a play that shows how meticulous
and well thought out plans will bring about the desired result. The plays main
character, Hamlet, is a Renaissance man that struggles with the corrupt world
around him. He must deal with such issues like "blood for blood
revenge" when his own uncle kills his father and takes his place as king. A
ghost king appears to Hamlet and catalyzes the events that follow in the play.
Hamlet must devise a plan to take revenge for his father and bring to justice
all the people who have marred the situation. Though the church mandates through
its moral code that Hamlet not take revenge, Hamlet tries to find the worst fate
for his devious uncle possible: "Now might I do it, now he is a-praying,
And now I'll do't and so he goes to heave…When he is drunk asleep, or in his
rage, or in th' incestuous pleasure of his bed…Then trip him…And that his
soul may be as damned and black As hell, whereto it goes" (3.4.77-100).
Hamlet finally gains the nerve to kill his uncle, but sheaths his sword when he
realizes that if he kills him while he is praying, his uncle will ascend to
heaven. He ultimately decides to kill his uncle when he commits a sin, so that
his soul "may be as damned and black as hell." He goes through a
meticulous thought process, which shows him both his options and when to act to
give his uncle the most cruel and horrible death he deserves. His actions also
bring in a conflict between church and the revengeful calls of his families
past. If he revenges his father's death then he will be damned to hell according
to the church. Without Hamlet's patient and meticulous thought process he would
not be able to outwardly expose the king of his wrong doings to Horatio: There
is a play tonight before the King. One scene of it comes near the circumstance
Which I have told thee of my father's death. I prithee,…Observe my uncle.
Hamlet devises a well thought out plan of exposing the King's fault in his
father's death. Hamlet uses the advantage of having a wonderful acting troop
with him to put on a play for the King and other nobility that greatly resembles
the circumstances in which Hamlet's father was killed. Hamlet's hard work is
rewarded when the King storms out of the performance as a result of his own
guilt and wrong doings. Hamlet also devised this plan to fully prove to himself
that the ghost was a trustworthy advocate and not a damned spirit from hell,
trying to disrupt and corrupt the Danish court. The through well thought out
plans of Hamlet ultimately give him his revenge but also bring the consequence
of death by the treachery he creates through the story. Like Hamlet, I use often
a long thought process to plan projects that I wish to do. We both are not quick
to act, but rather devise a plan to attain our goal. Spontaneous thinking can
bring about undesired and sometimes deadly results. A careful thought process is
a safer, but not as exhilarating and self-fulfilling way of confronting life
without being spontaneous. A balance between the two thought processes would
produce the most desirable result.