Leave the worst or best for last?

It does not matter wether we are talking about an adult or teen, everybody procrastinates at some point in their life.  It is something that has been present for many years, and one of the most common activities (or inactivities) through out the human race. The true questions is why do we do it, or rather do not do it?

There can be various reasons as to why one prolongs certain types of activities, but the most common reason is because we do not enjoy what we have to do. I can speak from a student's perspective and affirm that "procrastinations is the student's curse." We simple delay our ask because we don't like what we have to do. Or rather because there are other things that we could be doing. The same happens to Hamlet, who delays his revenge as much as he can. Very few people could say that it is fun to kill some one. Rather, very few could say that the enjoy killing the uncle. Hamlet loved his father and he felt justice had to be made, but since killing was not some thing he enjoyed doing, he looked for excuses to delay it as much as possible. The same happens for our day to day lives. As a student, I can say that I enjoy some classes more than others, and most of the time I work first on the ones that I enjoy. I almost always leave the worst for last. But this is a trend in society. When one has to do something that one doesn't enjoy, it can de dreadful to complete the task. No one likes to do something that they don't enjoy, some can even suffer by doing so, so, our human feelings and guts tells us to leave it for last. And as humans, I am sure that if it weren't for deadlines creeping in, we would only do the things that we enjoy; it's in our nature. We don't like to suffer, we like to have fun, and since things we dislike exist, we procrastinate, and leave the worst for last. 

Some times leaving the worst for last, is actually far worse than better. I am a strong believer of the opposite: "leave the best for last," because I like to get over the things I don't like fast, but sometimes it's also good to take it down a notch and procrastinate. It can even lead to good things, like being able to think things through and take the correct decisions. In conclusion, it is good to procrastinate some times. Being a chronic procrastinator is another story, but sometimes delaying things, is for the better. 

What to Take IN

One of the greatest advantages of Shakespeare’s plays is that they lend themselves to many different interpretations. Not only can the plays be acted in different ways, but also people can understand and view them differently.  In the beginning of the podcast, this is shown when glimpses of different interpretations of Hamlet are played. All of the actors’ voices and interpretations are different. Even though the play has a literal meaning people interpreter that meaning in different ways. Also people take in different messages and read and understand the play differently, base on their current situation and what they want to learn from it. 

For many, the prisoners from the Missouri Eastern Correctional Center were not only acting out one of the most important plays in history; they were engaged in an act of self discovery.  At first they were reading lines, and had difficulties because many did not graduate from high school, but towards the end, they transformed into the characters they were playing. They took something that materially had no meaning to them and were able to complete the meaning of the characters through the memories of their respective crimes. Since the first time that Dan Waller read the ghost’s opening scene he knew he wanted to play it. He felt that the man he killed was “talking to [him]” through the ghost, reminding him“what [he] put him through.” Also, James Word saw so much of himself in Laertes that he ended up feeling “I am Laertes. I am. I am.”  A 400-year-old play, that many would think had nothing to do with them, changed them.   This is also true for those forced to reflect on crimes they have committed. The prisoners acted out a play, and through the play, they relived their crimes.  More importantly, they rediscover their humanity in the face of a society that has deemed them monstrous. As they discovered themselves in the characters, the felt human again. In their perspective, they went from being monster to actors, which gave them the feeling that they were important.

The prisoners were just acting out Hamlet. But when they starting reading the lines, they understood the poem because they were able to compare themselves to it. Life comes with things that may seem to have no relevance to your life, but every situation has something to offer, you just have to want to learn and grow. 

Forced to Act

“No! I am not Prince Hamlet, now was meant to be,” is a famous line from T.S Elliot’s poem, The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock. He is referring to William Shakespeare’s famous character, Prince Hamlet, and even though he is not Prince Hamlet, they have very similar characteristics in their personality.

Both of the characters described in the poem and the play, are very doubtful and have trouble making up their mind, but in the end, Prince Hamlet is the only one that takes action.  In his poem, TS Elliot is describing a man that has an obsession for a woman but can never decided for the right time to act. He starts by wanting to ask the women to go with him: but then starts making up excuses to delay that question by arguing that there will be "time yet for a hundred indecisions…”  At the ends he never makes up his mind and ends up growing old alone. On the other hand, Prince Hamlet has trouble deciding when to act, because what he plans on doing takes a lot of courage. Taking revenge and killing one's uncle is not an easy task to do.  All through the play he questions himself and always finds obstacles to avenge his father’s death, just like J Alfred Prufrock, cannot decide to ask the women.  Both of them have trouble making up their minds and acting because they lack the necessary self-confidence; they feel insecure and are afraid that things don’t go out as planned. Most of the time, this is what makes people doubt. The fear of failing is what keeps us from taking importance decisions. But life is about making mistakes and learning from them. Just like J Alfred, and Hamlet, many people delay their actions, and have trouble making up their mind, but the only road to success is actually trying. Even though J Alfred was all alone and Hamlet died, the later was the one that succeeded because he actually acted. 

Both approached different situations in similar ways. They delayed their actions because of self doubt, never the less, Prufrock failed more than Hamlet because he never tried. Even though, Hamlet was forced to act, he ended up doing it and accomplish his goal. And this is what has to be done in life. People have to take away their fears and act, because as the old [modified] saying goes it is better to have tried and failed, than never have tried at all.