Proocccaaaasstiii.....

Never did it cross my mind that Hamlet was a procrastinator. I thought he just had a lot of trouble making decisions. However, as I read this article, this idea made complete sense. Hamlet is one of literature’s greatest procrastinators. As I kept on reading, I saw myself reflected on every word. This led me to a terrifying conclusion; Hamlet and I are quite similar.

I have to confess I consider myself a pro at procrastinating. I find even the smallest, most insignificant excuse to do things later. I also believed I was good at identifying other people's procrastinating skills. However, "Hamlet the procrastinator" never crossed my mind.

Now that I think about it, Hamlet’s indecision was an excuse to kill his uncle later. Thus, he was procrastinating. He was delaying something that he had to get done. Maybe the fact that he is a procrastinator, just like me, is the reason why I felt a sort of empathy towards him.

Hamlet’s greatest, yet most characteristic of procrastination excuse, was when he was finally about to kill Claudius. He didn't do it because the king was praying and that would take him to heaven instead of hell. A clever and stupid excuse to delay it. I myself have some clever and stupid excuses too. For example before making this blog post I delayed it as much as I could using excuses such as, "I better do the homework I have due for next week, so I don't have homework tomorrow". It may sound clever until I tell you that this blog is due tomorrow while the other homework is due next week. Not so clever after all, is it?

Procrastination kills. That is another statement mentioned in the article. I had heard this one before. Now thinking about Hamlet, procrastination did kill him. If he had killed his uncle when he had the chance before, he could have been alive at the end. However, he kept on procrastinating and that is the reason Laertes killed him. Procrastination killed Hamlet.

Maybe the "procrastination killing" isn't as extreme as I made it sound. I sure hope it doesn't kill me. But it does makes us look like dinosaurs, as the article author said. It makes us look like fools. Every time I procrastinate and other people notice, they probably think of me what I think of Hamlet, which isn't precisely good. Hopefully next time I'm planning an excuse to procrastinate, I'll think about Hamlet and how I don't want others to see me.