Quote from Hamlet Essay

â€Å"Thus conscience does make cowards of us all†. These words said by Hamlet are very strong in meaning and really do make a lot of sense. I agree with this quote. I really do believe that a person’s guilty conscience may cause them to have fear of doing what is right or of telling another person the truth or what needs to be said. A person’s conscience is what tells the person what is right and it lets the person know when he or she has committed something that is morally wrong. A conscience does not force the person to do anything, but it does let them know when they are wrong and this guilt can lead the person to act in different ways. A guilty conscience is extremely difficult to deal with because no matter what you do or how you try to block out what you have on your mind, your conscience is always there letting you know that you have done something wrong. It is almost like carrying a 1,000-pound load on your back and trying to walk straight. It is nearly impossible to go on normally through the day with your guilty conscience knocking on your mind and never letting you rest. A conscience can also let a person know that he or she should not do something because it is wrong. In Hamlet’s case, he states that his conscience is letting him know that killing his uncle would be extremely wrong, and this is why he is acting like a coward and putting it off. I can’t really blame Hamlet for being afraid of killing somebody. Murdering somebody is a big deal and it can come with many consequences if you are caught. In a way, your conscience is like an interior parent who is looking out for you and letting you know all the right things to do so that you won’t regret doing anything wrong later. A guilty conscience can help out by scaring the person into doing what is right or into not doing what is wrong. Sometimes a person can want to do something that is wrong so badly, but his or her conscience won’t allow it. One night during the summer a friend of mine was home alone and she wanted me to sneak out of my house and go see her. I was both nervous and excited at the same time, but I knew that if I were to get caught I would be in so much trouble. I planned everything out  and waited for my parents to fall asleep that night before I started doing anything. Once they were asleep I snuck downstairs, grabbed the keys to one of my dad’s trucks, and made my way to the back of my house. I opened the door and my dogs started barking like crazy. That is what scared the hell out of me. I really thought that my parents were going to wake up and bust me. It scared me so much that I completely wussed out and called everything off. I decided that unless I was never going to be able to see the girl again that I shouldn’t risk getting caught and grounded for a really long time. So I just called my friend and told her that I would see her some other time. She understood completely and it turned out that she was just as scared as I was. My conscience made me act like a total coward, but it also saved me from getting a beating from my parents. Consciences are a part of life and they were created by God for a reason. In my opinion they serve a great purpose and can really help to clean up the wrongs of our world little by little. Guilty consciences should not be ignored because they are telling you what the right thing to do is. Of course not everybody will do the right thing, but one right is better than one wrong.