If Prince Hamlet was still alive, would he be a good king?

Question

If Prince Hamlet was never poisoned by the tip of the sword, how well would he do as king?

Answer 1

Not well, in my opinion. He was passionate, yes...he was also indecisive. He had an alarming trend of pushing away those he loved, and was given to rash, sudden actions without thought. Better for him had he gotten the throne from a father who died naturally. As it was, with the murder of his father, his youth and his fanatical love of his mother, he would have made a very poor King.

Answer 2

Hard to say. On the one hand, our experience of him throughout the play suggests that he'd be indecisive, to say the least...not one of the qualities that usually makes for quality leadership.

However, he does behave pretty heroically at the end of the play, and Fortinbras, whose speech concludes the show, says that, in his opinion, Hamlet would have made a good king:

"For he was likely, had he been put on,
To have proved most royally..."

Answer 3

He did not want to be a king, he thought of himself as unworthy and uncapable. He wanted to clean the throne, and his life was already tainted. So he would never be king even if he could. I think he would´ve given up his right to be king.

Answer 4

He may have shown the same indecision regarding the oncoming invasion. He at least would have been a king with a conscience.

Answer 5

He had honor, revenge, and was quite capable of carrying out plots to get to the truth, though a few had to die along the way. I got the feeling that he wasn't a king to mess with, for he'd get to all of us eventually.

Answer 6

No he'd never make up his mind about what color the palace drapes should be (they had to get new ones after he punctured one and Polonius, too), let alone make the important decisions needed to run a country.

Answer 7

No he was insaine