Hesitance- Hamlet's "Hakuna Matata?"

Disney's hit-film The Lion King undoubtedly got a lot of its original inspiration from Hamlet. Examining the comparisons between both, some people realize that a certain young lion was stuck in a situation much similar to the one Hamlet was stuck in.

To provide a brief synopsis, a young lion blames himself for the death of his father (who was actually killed by the young lion's uncle), flees from his home, and then adapts to a laid-back, carefree life with a self-absorbed meerkat and a flatulent warthog as his "adoptive parents." In the time spent in his days free from worry, the lion acts as if his troubles were nonexistent, that is, until the stars bring back some remembrance of his father to him. Then a primate witch-doctor comes to knock some sense into him (metaphorically and literally speaking), show him the continued existence of his father in his heart, then sends him running towards home (and most people know what happens after that).

Hamlet is trapped by the same fate as Simba was, however in a way that haunts him more than nags at his righteous conscience. Think his friends as the witch-doctor monkey, someone who knows that one way or the other, his father still lives. His friends take him to the apparition, who pleads with Hamlet to fulfill his revenge, as was the custom of the time, a task that leaves Hamlet pale with fright, although strengthened with resolve upon the revelation of his uncle's schemes. Hamlet, however, refused to kill Claudius in an immediate manner as most would expect of a noble hero, biding his time in his cowardice.

Here is the irony of Hamlet's comparison to Simba's story: Hamlet's "Hakuna Matata," or the ideal that is holding him back from rectifying the situation, is his conscience nagging at him, insistently dragging him away from murdering his uncle. His uncertainty about the apparition being a demon or his father's noble spirit further supports this, because somewhere in the back of his mind, he know that murder clashes with his moral truths, and yet he still wants to heed his father's wishes. If he chooses the path of vengeance, however, he risks losing himself and his belief in what is right. Simba, on the other hand, found himself when he decided to heed his father's wishes that continued to call out from the stars above.

Sad, is it not? Something that is meant to dispel a plague of injustice (Pride Land's famine and Denmark's hasty wedding) becomes something that a person either loses or gains from. In some ways, however, it is as if Hamlet is losing an innocence reminiscent to that of a child and walking towards his adulthood, similar to how Simba finally decides to grow up to be the king his father wants him to be.

As Simba leaves his "Hakuna Matata" behind, so does Hamlet when he leaves his "hesitance" behind.

And thus, two kings of injustice fall while two kings rise from children who decided to stop running away.

Ticking Towards a Courageous Center

Hesitance works much like a pendulum does with an old grandfather clock: it swings one direction, then swings to the next, and then repeats itself. While this happens, however, it always passes a center that it never stops at. It's there for a brief, immeasurable moment, but then swings outward once more. In the same way, hesitance is a feeling deep inside that takes root in a desire for something, and yet, its root is also in the fear of it as well. It continues to closely get towards the "center," but then moves away from it. In the moments where people believe they will do something, that confidence, the center, is quickly dashed to pieces by fear of the unknown. Like the pendulum on a clock, the hesitance that moves away from the center always continues to allow time to pass, forever bound to the gears that form the flow of time.

As time wears on, however, some clocks run to the end of their ropes, where the pendulum finally stops in the center. That is because the clock has already been worn old enough to keep the pendulum from swinging. In the same way, when people finally reach closure with themselves, they stop letting hesitance become the measure of their time. Every second counted is a second wasted because people are so caught up in how time passes in their idleness when they should really be focused on what to do with their time. Even if the clock stops moving, time still progresses. The sooner people realize that, the sooner that they will finally stop focusing on how quickly or slowly time moves and focus more on what to do with their time.

Applied to Hamlet in Shakespeare's play Hamlet, there will be a time in the course of the play where he will decide when to take action and when to stop letting hesitance waste his time. Until then, the audience of the great stage can anticipate that climatic moment where the pendulum ceases to move, when Hamlet finally begins to take action against his grievances. His contempt for Claudius, his disdain for his mother's foolishness, all of them simply gears that tick closer and closer to the triumphant moment of his courage. Until then, time passes on, delaying that moment, letting everyone know that moment approaches, but never telling when it will happen.

Therefore, when do you believe the pendulum will stop swinging?

The Fall of the "Pure Woman"

The subtitle of Thomas Hardy's novel, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, "A Pure Woman," fits in the novel title perfectly because her tragic story is almost indeed a direct parallel of Eve's downfall into sin. The serpent tempted, the woman ate of the forbidden fruit, and was therefore cast out of her "Garden of Eden" respectively. It was God that then said that "in pain [she] shall give childbirth. From manual labor, [she] shall strive to make a living. I have made [her] from dust, and [she] shall surely return to dust." God created Tess and Eve alike with different kinds of purity. Tess's, in the end, was her eternal sense of diligence and duty to support her family, and a relentless attitude that refused to give in to the burdens of the world. However, she gave way to the serpent's temptation, thus beginning her tragedy, and her eventual fall into death. Just as Eve was "outcasted" from Eden, Tess was ridiculed in Victorian society, thereby ostracizing her from the pleasures she once knew, all given up to flee her past.

Tess's title of "A Pure Woman" might not have lasted throughout the novel, but the very idea that her heart was pure to begin with is practically the main foundation of Hardy's novel. It became her character, her resourcefulness, her naivety to the serpent, her reason to flee her past, her tragic separation from her "Adam," and then finally (and inevitably), her death. 

Knights, Gladiators, Kings,...A Forest

When people look back to the eras of old and fiction, places such as Camelot, the Roman Empire, the Olympian times where the one who bears the lightning was the one thought sworn to serve as guardian over Greece, it's hard not to contemplate how majestic, how mystic those eras were. The reason why they are common subjects of allusion is because they were the times where fantasy and realism were melded together like the individual bricks used to build a Medieval castle.

Allusion has become such a majestic treasure of literary significance because this world, in each passing moment, continues to unlock mysteries and find ways to explain how the world works. Every such moment is merely another mystery blanketed by the tasteless feeling of realism.

Which would sound more of the exciting type: that chicken pox actually comes from a virus that's easily contagious, or does it come from a demon lurking in the dark corridors of castle walls?

I believe everyone with common sense would know the proper choice.

Ironically enough, however, people persist in becoming the next hunter of answers to all of the different unknowns in the world. Lying under all that, is the death of another mystery contemplated by the complex machinations of the human mind.

It's like an eternal fire, and the mysteries are trees. People keep chopping them down to keep their fires of their reality alive, because otherwise they would not be living. People enjoy the colors of those trees, reminisce in their natural beauty. It gives the blazes of their souls wondrous colors of majestic purple, hopeful blue, passionate red, lively green, eccentric yellow, enthusiastic orange. Regardless, it is required of human nature to subconsciously continue chopping them down in order to keep it alive. Soon enough, all that will be left is a flat land of grass, littered with stumps to serve as the remnants, the remembrance of those pleasant colors once abundant in the branches.

And yet, people cannot live without those colors, otherwise souls would not have life anymore...

THE SOLUTION: An illusion.

If people cannot be surrounded in mysteries anymore, why not invent a world of their own, a spitting image of the Round Table where humble nobility gathers? And thus, from the stumps, allusion gives birth to illusion. It's how the colors of the soul remain vivid. People use allusion to bask in a fantasy of the forest of mystery. Allusions serve not only as the stumps of those stories of old, but also as a gateway to that time as well. Understanding it in any literary piece is a way to paint colors on the souls of many. That is why it is used so prominently in many wonderful works, because it not only sparks an illusion in the reader, but also gives them a glance into the author's colors of their soul.

Dreams make a painting of the flames in our souls. Realism allows them to continue burning.

"The Greatest Kingdom on Earth"

31 “Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 32 The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay.34 While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth."
-Daniel 2:31-35 (NIV)

Pecy Bysshe Shelley's poem "Ozymandias" carries so much significant resemblance to this one passage in the Book of Daniel from the Bible. An Egyptian statue that once stood majestically falls to utter ruin, until all that is left is the common dust and shattered fragments serving as the only remembrance of a once grand kingdom. Combining the importance of both of these great works brings a curious contemplation to mind: why do people spend so much time trying to build something mighty, all for it to fall into common dust over the passage of time?

The answer is simple: they want the remembrance of their "kingdom" to stand forever. If they cannot settle for an eternal kingdom, they can make due for its glory being preserved for all time, right? Sometimes they accomplish it by building a colossus, which does stand the test of time, but only for a brief moment compared to the rest of eternity. In context of real life, some people put forth all the effort they can into amassing wealth, title, and popularity, but what is any of that when it eventually fades away over time?

When you think about it, such accomplishments are so trivial compared to what really matters. After all, just like the rest of material, they all deteriorate and fade.

What really matters, therefore, is what transcends the material realm. Many know the phrase, "a heart of gold," which actually carries profound significance. The way people help to provide a benefit in another's life is how their true worth is determined. After all, the people that are remembered the most are those who have done much to provide the foundations for a future of goodwill, such as those who give their lives to helping others.

Material crumbles to dust. The memory of another's good deeds, unseen by human eyes, lasts for an eternity.

Stepping out of Paradise into...The Garden of Eden?

It's easy for many to say that Tess Durbeyfield from Tess of the d'Urbervilles has wandered out of her place of relative comfort and into the snake's pit. The beginning of her story sets her in the rural English region of Wessex, a place where she lives in contentment. Unlike her parents, she is fitted for the country, always ready to work when necessary. However, the untimely death of her "Prince," the family horse, plummets her into a chain of events that lead her to the doorstep of the d'Urberville mansion. Who be there to greet her? None other than Alec d'Urberville, the ominous villain behind dark clothes.

One of the story's greatest themes is the idea of a predetermined fate, something anyone would be anxious of. Well, the stars don't say much for Tess, because how ill-fated it is for her father to come to know of his family's distant lineage, for Tess to meet Angel Clare, for their horse to die in a tragic manner, for her guilt to become her motivation for being led to an ominous household.

It is widely discussed that the story of Genesis of the Bible has a significant influence on the story's events, how Satan the serpent lured Eve to the forbidden fruit much similar in the manner Tess is urged on by the scheming Alec to produce a proper whistle. However, what strikes the curiosity of many is that Tess never actually produces a very successful whistle. This leads to wonder: has she partaken of the forbidden fruit, or is that a part of Alec's schemes?

It is said that the future is so unknown to humans to the point where only God can know its secrets. If He had created humans to be pure, only for the cunning of a serpent to turn them away, and He knew about it, why was it allowed to happen like that? 

Purpose.

Many believe that God allows everything, good or bad, to happen because they commit to some greater purpose. Could the same apply to Tess's ill turn of fate? If so, then the predetermination of her life itself presumably carries a purpose. And what is that purpose? That is a question unanswered, for sometimes only oneself can discover the meaning behind every one of their troubles. 

With this in mind, how do you believe Tess is believing all this?

One thing's for certain, a heart placed in paradise full of temptation can hardly be considered sanctuary compared to one of contentment full of little material value.

The Foggy Winds of Uncertainty

The future... an area whose secrets are known only to God. No matter how one sees it, the future is forever going to remain unknown to everyone who lives. No matter how hard they try, they can never foresee what will exactly happen, let alone how it will happen. No matter what they do, they can never entirely prepare for what life is going to throw at them in the most inopportune moments.

And yet, everyone holds tight to themselves what they call "expectations" and "hope." It is ironic because many people expect something to happen in the future, even when they don't know what will exactly happen. Regardless of all their hopes, however, there is always going to be something unexpected that strikes when everyone least expects it, whether it is in the point where they are most comfortable, or when they are completely vigilant. In a way, it's like seeing the approaching dust of an army or two; people know hostility approaches, but they do not know what form it will be in.

Even still, there is hardly a person in the world who will not make preparations, even if it is for a threat they do not know about. In the most extreme sense, people invest their savings to either construct or buy a shelter prepped for the Apocalypse.

Efforts like those are futile, though, because the causality in the future is as fickle as the weather in Colorado. It's always going to change in the ways people least expect it to. Not only is it fickle, but it's also inconceivably uncontrollable by human hands. There's no stopping its approach, and certainly no changing what it brings.

A person procrastinates, they get behind on their work. A person overworks, tiring themselves to the brink of exhaustion. With choices come consequence, and that forms the basis of causality. People have power over their choices, but never over the results. Regardless, they still expect an envisioned result they carefully drawn out in their mind.The result, either utter disappointment or satisfaction at predicting the outcome correctly.

Is it worth the risk, though?

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"Go with the flow." A common phrase that becomes a core philosophy of optimists. There really is no need for expectations or preparations of the future. Humans possess the unparalleled ability to improve, make progress. If that is an ability everybody possesses, even in the face of hindrance or hostility, wouldn't that itself be enough resource to withstand the unexpected? Life's great mysteries are what make it exciting. Terrifying, but exciting. In some ways, it's almost like trying to clear a game, because people need to discover many different methods to clear the levels in their life. Those great challenges are what make life fun, because with proper determination, people always find a way to keep moving toward the future.

Paranoid preparations aren't what combat the unknown future, it's the human will to progress that combats the uncertainty. If all people do is get obsessed with what they believe will happen, they're going to get trapped in the present and stop looking to the future, and therefore never find the will to make of it what they will.

Do not prepare for the unknown future that approaches. Instead, find the will to approach the future yourself.