Hamlet and His Delay in Seeking Revenge Against Claudius Essay

Words: 1304
Pages: 6
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Zikima Sawyer
English 102:002
Professor Hayes
November 11, 2011
Hamlet's Delay

In William Shakespeare, Hamlet, the ghost speaks to Hamlet, claiming to be his father’s spirit. Hamlet is shocked at the revelation that his father has been murdered, and the ghost tells him that as he slept in his garden, a villain poured poison into his ear, the villain who now wears his crown, Claudius. The ghost urges Hamlet to seek revenge, telling him that Claudius has corrupted Denmark and Gertrude, taken her from the love of her first marriage and seduced her in the lust of their incestuous union. The ghost also urges Hamlet not to act against his mother in any way. Through out the play, Hamlet has many opportunities to avenge his father's death …show more content…
Hamlet must struggle with the dilemma of whether or not to kill Claudius, his uncle, and if so when to actually do it. As the play progresses, Hamlet does not seek his revenge when the opportunity presents itself, and it is the reasoning that Hamlet uses to justify his delay that becomes paramount that Hamlet's mental perspective has on his situation.
In order to fully understand how Hamlet's perspective plays an important role in this play, the reader must attempt to answer the fundamental question: Why does Hamlet procrastinate in taking revenge on Claudius? Although the answer to this question is at best somewhat complicated, Mark W. Scott attempts to offer some possible explanations for Hamlet's delay in his book, Shakespeare for Students:
Critics who find the cause of Hamlet's delay in his internal meditations typically view the prince as a man of great moral integrity who is forced to commit an act which goes against his deepest principles. On numerous occasions, the prince tries to make sense of his moral dilemma through personal meditations, which Shakespeare presents as soliloquies. Another perspective of Hamlet's internal struggle suggests that the prince has become so disenchanted with life since his father's death that he has neither the desire nor the will to exact revenge. (74)

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