Two Types of Empires: Don Quixote and Hamlet

Empires are of two kinds: Don Quixote Empires and Hamlet Empires. Those who have read Cervantes’s Don Quixote and Shakespeare’s Hamlet would know that Don Quixote and Hamlet are the polar opposite of each other. Don Quixote does not think at all—he simply acts; he unthinkingly goes on the offensive. Hamlet is the brooding thoughtful type, who contemplates such deep questions: “To be or not to be.” He is so engrossed in his thoughts and soliloquies that he fails to act until it is too late. The Don Quixote Empires act without thinking. The Hamlet Empires think profusely but are incapable of acting.