After Reading
Hamlet's Curse: When Thinking Too Much Becomes Its Own Tragedy
There is a simple way to summarize Hamlet: a man thinks himself out of action. From beginning to end, Prince Hamlet wanders between the heat of impulse and the paralysis of reason, and dies not by his own design but by sudden, chaotic accident. As a man of the world, he fails. But his failure opens onto something far bigger than any revenge plot — questions about existence, meaning, and what it even means to act that human beings have never stopped asking. Does Hamlet Lack Courage? Critics have long debated whether Hamlet lacks what the ancient Greeks called thymos — the spirited, honor-driven energy that moves heroes to act. It’s a fair accusation on the surface. His tragedy does seem...
North Ward