The ways in which individuals struggle to restore honour and certainty.
Thesis:
Hamlet attempts to restore honour and certainty, yet because of his indecisiveness and doubt, he struggles to act with conviction ultimately revealing his tragic flaw.
1. Uncertainty a. Doesn’t trust ghost-mousetrap b. To be or not to be c. Chance to kill Claudius
2. Honour a. Father’s honour-playwrights b. Gertrude-procrastinate c.
3. Turning point/change in his conviction a. Fortinbras b. Ophelia c. Laretes
Humans have a natural propensity to desire security. Societies often look for strong leaders with honour, who provide this much needed sense of certainty. In its absence society can decay much like the sense of decay in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. In Act I, Marcellus astutely states that “something is rotten in the state of Denmark”. The root cause of this decay is the dishonour related to the King’s murder and the ensuing conflict centres around the titular character Hamlet’s uncertainty, struggle to restore honour and the eventual change in his conviction. Hamlet attempts to restore honour and certainty, yet because of his indecisiveness and doubt, he struggles to act with conviction ultimately revealing his tragic flaw.
Throughout the play, Hamlet’s indecision consumes and hinders him from making a committed decision highlighting his (hamartia) tragic flaw-that he is a philosopher, not a warrior.
Despite the emotional appearance of the ghost to Hamlet, and Hamlet’s promise to avenge King
Hamlet’s murder, Hamlet is paralyzed by his philosophical nature. Instead of decisive action to restore his father’s honour, Hamlet instead contrives and elaborate plan to “catch the conscience of the King” through the Mousetrap play. Hamlet’s procrastination and his many attempts to put off the inevitable, reveals that he is not a warrior, rather he is thoughtful, moral and ultimately seemingly lacks the ability to act with decision. His philosophical nature is further revealed in the famous “to be or not to be” soliloquy where he concludes that the uncertainty of

the afterlife hinders his acceptance of death. The fear of the unknown inhibits Hamlet from restoring his father’s honour. When he happens upon Claudius praying in the confessional,
Hamlet has the perfect opportunity to act with speed and decisiveness, however he hesitates.
Hamlet blames his hesitation on Claudius’ seeming act of confession-Hamlet does not want to kill Claudius in an act of repentance thus sending him to heaven, while his own father suffers in limbo. It is a recurrence of Hamlet’s uncertainty of the afterlife that prevents action. Hamlet’s philosophical nature is his tragic flaw and as a result, he struggles to act with conviction to restore his honour.