Indecision, Hesitation and Delay in Shakespeares Hamlet - Needless Delay? :: The Tragedy of Hamlet Essays

Hamlets Delay The question of why Hamlet delays in taking penalise on Claudius for so long has puzzled readers and audience members alike. Immediately followers Hamlets conversation with the Ghost, he seems determined to fulfill the Ghosts wishes and swears his companions to secrecy about what has occurred. The attached appearance of Hamlet in the play reveals that he has not to that extent revenged his fathers murder. In Scene two, act two, Hamlet gives a possible causation for his hesitation. The spirit that I cook seen / May be a agitate, and the devil hath power / T assume a pleasing shape (2.2.627-629). With this doubt cloud his mind, Hamlet seems completely unable to act. This indecision is somewhat resolved in the form of the play. Hamlet comes up with the idea of the play that is similar to the events recounted by the ghost about his murder to prove Claudius guilty or innocent. delinquent to the kings reaction to the play, Hamlet attains the belief that the Ghost was telling the truth the shadow of the apparition. In Hamlets mind, it is now his duty to avenge his fathers murder. This is where the real problem of inactivity enters the play. Later that night, Hamlet has a perfect opportunity to kill Claudius, when he sees the King kneeling in prayer. He wonders if this is the time to kill him and acquire it over with, but decides not to. He claims that he does not unavoidableness Claudius to go to heaven, so he would rather kill him when he is committing a sin. If this is the case, then why doesnt he simply wait till Claudius has accurate his prayer, accuse him of the murder and kill him in his sin of denial. Instead, Hamlet goes to the house of his mother and passes up his best opportunity at revenge. The argument tramp be made, however, that it is not a fear of killing that causes this inaction. He does not display an inability to end some ones life when killing Polonius. He incomplete hesitates nor capitulates in sending Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their executions. Why then would the prince of Denmark hesitate to kill the one man he most justly could? Many literary remember that his inaction is the result of a vicarious Oedipus complex. Those who concur with this theory order that Hamlet, in his subconscious mind, has a desire to do exactly what his uncle has make that is, get rid of the king so that he can have Gertrude for himself.