Hamlet's tragedy is a tragedy of failure-the failure of a man placed in critical circumstances to dealsuccessfully with those circumstances. In some ways, Hamlet reminds us of Brutus in Shakespeare's"Julius Caesar." Hamlet and Brutus are both good men who live in trying times; both are intellectual,even philosophical; both men want to do the right thing; both men intellectualize over what the rightthing is; neither man yields to passion. But here the comparison ends, for though both Brutus andHamlet reflect at length over the need to act, Brutus is able immediately to act while Hamlet is not.Hamlet is stuck "thinking too precisely on th' event-". Hamlet's father, the king of Denmark, has died suddenly. The dead king's brother,Claudius, marriesHamlet's mother and swiftly assumes the throne, a throne that Hamlet fully expected would be hisupon the death of his father. Hamlet's father's ghost confronts Hamlet and tells him that his death wasnot natural, as reported, but instead was murder. Hamlet swears revenge. But rather than swoopinstantly to that revenge, Hamlet pretends to be insane in order to mask an investigation of theaccusation brought by his father's ghost. Why Hamlet puts on this "antic disposition" and delays inkilling Claudius is the central question of the play. But Hamlet did not swear to his dead father that he, detective-like, would investigate. Hamlet swore

revenge. And he has more than enough motivation to exact revenge. Does it not, think thee, stand me now upon- He that hath killed my king, and whored my mother; Popped in between th' election and my hopes, Thrown out his angle for my proper life, And with such cozenage-is't not perfect conscience To quit him with this arm? And is't not to be damned To let this canker of our nature come In further evil? (Act 5, scene 2 . . . to Horatio) Yet he delays. It is this delay in performing the act he has sworn to accomplish which leads toHamlet's death. The poison on the tip of Laertes' sword is but a metaphor for the poison ofprocrastination which has been coursing through Hamlet's system throughout the play. Hamlet's thoughts focus upon death rather than upon action. His words show an intense longing fordeath: O that this too too solid flesh would melt Thaw and resolve itself into a dew, Or that the everlasting had not fixed His canon 'gainst self-slaughter. (Act I, scene 2) In Act 3, Scene 1 Hamlet restates this theme: To be, or not to be, that is the question- The answer eludes Hamlet throughout the play, perhaps because it is the wrong question. Hamlet isalive and to be alive means 'to do,' not merely to be. It is his inability to 'do,' his tendency to reflectrather than to act which poisons Hamlet's resolve and causes his tragic death.