Your Story

I've noticed that throughout the plot of Hamlet, there is a recurring theme. This theme is the ability for human beings to talk and talk and talk and talk about doing something, but they can never seem to actually accomplish the very thing they set out to do. In Hamlet's and I'm sure Shakespeare's eye humans seem to be creatures of inaction. During one of his soliloquies, Hamlet speaks about God granting us the ability to reason but we spend most of the time reasoning and thinking about the situation that we don't act on it. He speaks about this in at least three speeches during the play. As I was reading the play this weekend and thinking about this, I noticed a connection between the crux of Hamlet and reality.

Humans are creatures of habit, that's an inarguable fact. Many prefer to do some of the same things over and over again rather than experience the world anew. Now I originally thought that this applied to the day to day mediocre things such as the morning wake up routine, or the drive to work; things that seemed like a blip on the grand scheme of things. Recently I discovered that's not the case. If we each wrote a story on the day to day things that we see and the recurring actions in our life then many of us would be similar to Hamlet. I want to write a story to demonstrate this, using animals.

Let's start with the praying mantis. They look sweet and cute on the outside, blending into what is around them. Their prey doesn't even see them coming, unless of course they have had years of experience around them. The mantis stalks their prey, playing with it, making it believe it is safe. Just when the hunted feels safe around the mantis, it strikes! Lashing out with its sharp legs, the mantis strikes where it hurts. After a few blows, the prey then has to give into death or run away. If it is able to get away it can reestablish its home, its health, and everything else the mantis took from them. If not, the blood slowly oozes out of the dying insect and soon nothing is left.

Next we can analyze the rabbit. Rabbits like to be in open spaces and around other of their kind. They are braver and are more playful while others are around. While they enjoy doing what they love, they hide a lot of themselves from others so as not to ruin their reputation. They like to move around frequently to keep their entertainment but if faced with a situation that scares or angers them they run as fast as they can but are sprinters at the very best. Distance is not their friend but speed is. They can definitely be a problem but are great to have around.

These stories are just examples. I wonder what everyone would write about themselves; the Hamlety action they experience again and again whether they want to change it or not. I know what my story would be, what's yours?