Hey, Claudius, what does Hamlet need to learn?
Well, I guess he needs to learn to stop dithering and act. At first it’s only sensible to wait and make sure that what the ghost said was true, but once that’s established, he should have done what he was supposed to do and avenge his father. He spends too much time worrying about whether he’s doing the right thing or not, whether he should even exist or not he’s too much the intellectual and not enough the man of action. He ought to learn from my example. I mean, did I sit around and moan and groan about how terrible my lot was? No. I acted. Evilly, yeah, but I seized the day, didn’t I? Took the old bull by the horns. Horns, get it? You know, cuckolding the old bull. My brother, I mean. Hamlet needs to do that needs to stop thinking and start acting. A real villain would not stop his villainy just because the protagonist reacts. Rather he’d try to escape the consequences of his evildoing. This is another example of accepting the reality of your characters by giving them the potential
