Hesitation

Hesitation is described in both positive and negative terms, with some perceiving it as an indication of thoughtfulness, while others characterize it as a sign of indecisiveness or lack of the will to act.

In literature, a period of hesitation on the part of a key character has sometimes been depicted as having substantial consequences.

For the first time, Finnegan began to start and stop in place while riveting his gaze on the trainer's movements.

The physical hesitation suggests the emergence of a new step in the process: the dog begins to perceive that his task is to figure out the trainer's desires as to when he should come or stay.

[5] Stanton Marlan writes more positively of the phenomenon that "I imagine hesitation as being a fecund opening, a gateway to the unconscious and to the nothingness of which Derrida speaks.

[6] According to psychologist, James Hillman, "[t]his increased interiority means that each new ... inspiration, each hot idea ... will first be drawn through the labyrinthine ways of the soul, which wind it and slow it and nourish it from many sides".

[11] As a literary device, hesitation before engaging in certain actions reveals qualities of the character being described.