'Hamlet is a hero incapable of taking action.' Using you knowledge of the play as a whole, show how far you agree with this view of Hamlet.

It can be argued that Hamlet’s failure to take action is exemplified through his avowed intention to "put an antic disposition on" as a disguise for his real feelings and intentions. The hypocrisy in his feigned madness is blatant as he employs the same “ambiguous giving out” as he has so passionately deplored in his mother and uncle. Therefore the audience is inclined to believe that Hamlet is aware that it is not the right thing to do yet resorts to it in order to have a reason and excuse for deferring any genuine action. In fact, T.S. Eliot describes Hamlet’s antic disposition as merely “a form of emotional relief.” Therefore, it is something that he does for his personal benefit, in order to flee the courage required in taking real action and killing the king. This is further expressed by Ernest Jones who stated that the cause for Hamlet's delay is in the third category, "namely in some special feature of the task that renders it repugnant to him". He argues that Hamlet is never unclear about what his duty is, "about what he ought to do; the conflict in his mind ranged about the question why he could not bring himself to do it”. It is the unconscious nature of his repulsion to his task that causes Hamlet's problem of delay, yet Hamlet himself is seemingly oblivious to this. Jones points out Hamlet's own words in his seventh soliloquy to this effect: "I do not know / Why yet I live to say this thing's to do, / Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means / To do't".On the other hand, others would argue that although Hamlet delays taking physical action against the king, his feigned madness can be considered to be him taking indirect action. Hamlet’s continuous indirect action such as not only his antic disposition but also his verbal action ultimately leads him to executing the physical act of regicide. His verbal action is revealed through his frequent sarcasm against the king. For example, in Act 3 Scene 2 when the king questions whether the play is offensive, Hamlet provokes him by responding “No, no, they do but jest. Poison in jest”, as this could be a reference to the poison ingested by the late King.