To Reflect, or Not to Reflect Being careful and weighing out the consequences of one’s actions is an important part of shaping ones life. However, excessive thinking – resulting in lack of action - can prove destructive. In William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet the main character Hamlet is faced with a game-changing occurrence when a ghost appears before him in the form of his father. The Ghost demands Hamlet avenge his father by killing King Claudius, his uncle, whom he explained is responsible for his father’s death. Out of devotion for his father, Hamlet vows to kill King Claudius, but his word is not enough to motivate him to follow through as he continually delays. Many times Hamlet is presented with the opportunity to end Claudius’s life, but draws back in fear of being too rash. Hamlet’s inability to act due to lack of certainty, over-thinking the level of precision in the action and his yearning to avenge his father in the best possible way is the reason for his loss of assertion in his own life. Although nothing is ever completely certain in life, Hamlet struggles with pursuing actions without being confident in his reasoning. When the Ghost appears to Hamlet and asks that he, “revenge [his] foul and most unnatural murder” (I.v.25), he replies, “Haste me to know’t; that I, with wings as swift/ As meditation or the thought of love./ May sweep to my revenge.” (I.v.29-31). This exemplifies Hamlet’s desire to react almost immediately, but swift and shortly after, he loses his motivation due to reflecting on the validity of the information he received from the Ghost. Hamlet decides, “to put an antic disposition on” (I.v.173) to buy time for him to route a course of action because of his nagging doubt of the ghost’s legitimacy. Time passes and Hamlet is still yet to act. However, while watching a play, Hamlet questions if he has been a coward and realizes, “what an ass [he is]” (II.ii.580) for delaying what he first set out to do. Although Hamlet is not happy with his delay, he is still fixated with the idea that “The spirit that [he has] seen/ May be the devil: and the devil hath power/ To assume a pleasing shape.”(II.ii.560-563). Hamlet thinks that because he is in a vulnerable state due to his father’s death, he could easily be deceived, the