The Theme in the Work
The theme is born at the end of scene 2 of Act II. Alone, Hamlet censures himself because an actor weeps for Hecuba for no reason, while he, who has his father murdered, does nothing, and decides to test the king through the theater.
In scene 1 of Act III, the soliloquy “to be or not to be” gives the most cited formula: conscience makes cowards of us all, and the native hue of resolution is sicklied over by the pale cast of thought. In scene 3 of Act III, the opportunity appears, with Claudius on his knees, and Hamlet lets it pass.
In scene 4 of Act IV, the plain of Fortinbras reverses the picture: here, action without apparent reason, an army marching over a patch of worthless land, shames the thought that does not act. In scene 7 of Act IV, Claudius makes the same argument with the signs reversed before Laertes: the will changes, and what one wants to do must be done when one wants to. It is the logic of the soliloquy of the plain in the mouth of someone who wants a ready executioner.
In scene 2 of Act V, Hamlet’s answer to Horatio before the duel sounds like the opposite of the soliloquy of the plain: where before he accused himself of having motive and means and not acting, now he accepts being ready, and providence takes care of the rest.
The opposite of inaction, in the play, is not action but readiness. Hamlet acts without thinking behind the curtain and errs, thinks too much before the prayer and spares, and only gets close to the target when he stops choosing the moment. What Act V calls being ready is a third way, which the play does not offer as a solution but as what remains after testing the first two.
Where It Appears
- scene 2 of Act II: Hamlet censures himself before the actor who weeps for Hecuba and decides to test the king through the theater.
- scene 1 of Act III: Hamlet, speaking alone about living and dying, says that conscience makes cowards of us all and that the native hue of resolution is sicklied over by the pale cast of thought.
- scene 3 of Act III: Hamlet finds Claudius praying on his knees and, instead of killing him, spares him, because he wants to catch him at a moment without salvation.
- scene 4 of Act III: Hearing someone stir behind the curtain, Hamlet thrusts his sword through it, convinced he is killing the king, and kills Polonius.
- scene 4 of Act IV: Hamlet, alone on the plain, reproaches himself: he has motive, will and means for revenge and does not carry it out, while thousands die for almost nothing.
- scene 7 of Act IV: Claudius proposes to Laertes a duel with Hamlet, with an unguarded sword, and the scene records that what we want to do we should do when we want to, for this “wanting” changes.
- scene 2 of Act V: Hamlet answers Horatio, who advised him to refuse the duel, that there is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow and that readiness is all.
Passages
The plan that answers inaction.
The play’s the thing / Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King.(II.2)
The formula of the soliloquy.
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, / And thus the native hue of resolution / Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought(III.1)
The self-reproach before Fortinbras.
How stand I then, / That have a father kill’d, a mother stain’d, / Excitements of my reason and my blood, / And let all sleep(IV.4)
The readiness of the ending.
There’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. [...] The readiness is all.(V.2)