Hamlet's Failure as a Leader - Essay Example

In order to be a great leader, it is imperative that a king displays confidence in his own self. Hamlet lacks this quality from the very beginning when he immediately over-thinks the request, by his mother, to stay in Denmark. He puts his own desires aside to obey her, but then he over-analyzes his life instead of believing that he has made the right choice: “Oh, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His conon’gainst self-slaughter!

O God, God! How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world… (1.2.130)” Hamlet shows that he is not strong enough to execute his self-made plan for his life, thus showing a lack of value in himself. Furthermore, once he does make the decision to stay, he feels sorry for himself instead of being confident and devising a new plan. As a responsible leader, Hamlet should have carefully weighed the merits and demerits of staying in Denmark, and should have stayed confident with whatever decision he thus made.

If he later found that decision inappropriate, he should have left Denmark instantly rather than regretting. His philosophizing again takes over when a ghost appears to him revealing how Claudius had murdered the King. Hamlet casts aside his own beliefs and concerns and only thinks about what his father, in the form of a ghost, has told him. Hamlet is “from himself be tak’en away” (5.2.220) as madness overpowers his moral beliefs. “It is not a character marked by strength of will or even of passion, but by refinement of thought and sentiment” (Hazlitt, 1819).

Hamlet is a philosophical character who possesses the determination to concentrate his thoughts and come up with a plan of action necessary to achieve results; but his over-thinking habit hinders his ability to carry out the necessary actions. This quality is shown in the following lines in Act 1 Scene 5: Yea, from the table of my memory I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records, All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past That youth and observation copied there, And thy commandment all alone shall live Within the book and volume of my brain, Unmixed with baser matter (1.5.106).

When Hamlet speaks these words, he casts aside his Christian morals, in order to avenge his father’s death. Although this could show strength, yet Hamlet lacks the will power to convert these thoughts and plans into actions. He sets out to avenge the death of his father, against all his beliefs of right and wrong as dictated to him by his Christian values. However, if he really didn’t care, he should have killed Claudius immediately rather than waiting to collect evidence to be sure that Claudius is the culprit.

His constant thinking and planning shows that Hamlet lacks one of the most vital qualities of a true leader; the commitment and determination of following through on plans and goals in order to achieve solid results. A final flaw that Hamlet displays is his indecisiveness as he wastes time going back and forth between what he should and should not do. In seeking to get revenge on his Uncle, Hamlet struggles with his inability to act: "Now whether it be , Bestial oblivion ,or some craven scruple, of thinking too precisely on th' event - A thought which , quarter'd , hath but one