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Hamlet Sa
Hamlet Leadrship Essay

Hamlet is an indecisive leader, who lacks focus and the ability to delegate effectively. His inability to act showcases the numerous flaws in his character exposing him as a poor leader and an ineffective strategist.

His main character flaw is his indecisiveness. Throughout the play he chooses to procrastinate instead of making firm decisions. This is first illustrated when he sees his father 's ghost in the opening Act. Following his conversation with the ghost, he confirms with his best friend Horatio that the ghost is his father 's spirit. Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio, And much offence too. Touching this vision here, It is an honest ghost let me tell you: (Act 1, Scene 5, line 138)

Hamlet is confirming that the ghost is real and validating the information as credible. Based on this and the fact that the ghost instructed him to avenge him, Hamlet should have taken decisive action to eliminate his uncle and restore order to his country. A good leader follows his instincts and more importantly acts on credible information, Hamlet fails to do both (Theta 1995).

After continually making excuses for his inability to act throughout the first two scenes, Hamlet comes up with an elaborate plan to expose the king and to confirm his suspicions regarding his father 's murder. The prince uses a group of traveling actors to perform a play to act out the murder of his father. Hamlet invites his mother and Claudius to watch. As the play draws to an end, Claudius begins to act very suspiciously, rushing off after watching the murder scene: Give me some light-away! (Act 3 Scene 2, lines 240)

His actions once more point towards his obvious guilt.

Shortly afterwards on his way to his mothers quarters, Hamlet comes across Claudius in prayer. This is the first time that Hamlet has seen Claudius alone and he is given a perfect opportunity to finally dispose of the king. By this stage he is



Bibliography: BusinessWeek 1998, ‘How Jack Welsh runs GE ' [Online] Accessed 1 May 2006, Available at http://www.businessweek.com/1998/23/b.3581001.htm Philosophy pages 2001, ‘Machiavelli: Principality and Republic ' [Online] Accessed 30 April 2006, Available at http://www.philosphypages.com/members/journals/journal_spr0109.asp Shakespeare, W. 1992, Hamlet, 11th edition, Maskew Miller Longman, Cape Town. Theta, P. 1995, ‘The Importance of Delegation ' [Online] Accessed 29 April 2006, Available at http://websrv.ewu.edu/groups/studentlife/Delegation.pdf Thompson, D. 2004, ‘Business Erratic Behavior Worries White House ', [Online] Accessed 20 April 2006, Available at http://www.capitalblue.com/artman/publish/article_4636.shtml

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