Why Hamlet Took to Long to Kill Claudius? Essay

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Why Hamlet took to long to kill Claudius?

Shakespeare's drama Hamlet has become a central piece of literature of Western culture. It is the story of a prince named Hamlet, who lost his father. Soon after that he has to confront multiple obstacles and devises a series of situations to defend the new king's royalty. Furthermore, he had to prove that King Claudius, who was the prince's uncle, had killed Hamlet's father. This story has remained among the most popular and the most controversial plays around the world. It generates controversy for all the doubts that this play leaves with the readers. One of the most questioning situations in the play is the delay of Hamlet in avenging Claudius' for his father's death. As a reader this …show more content…
In one of the scenes when Hamlet has already found that Claudius is guilty, the prince tries to kill Claudius while he is praying to atone for his sins, saying to God: "Forgive me my foul murder..." (1051). Although this seems like the perfect opportunity for Hamlet to kill the king, the prince hesitates to go further with the action. He is afraid that Claudius is praying, and this would forgive him from his sins, producing a chance that Claudius would not suffer in the afterlife. As a reader I think these are no the only two concerns of Hamlet in killing Claudius. He may worry about the disrespect with the Ecclesiastical law of killing someone inside of a church, and the serious offense and great crime of killing a king in the commencement of seventeenth century. These circumstances produce confusion in Hamlet, making him take longer to fulfill the deed. Hamlet proved what he needed to, but his delay in taking action caused more turmoil to his dilemma. His anger and hurt caused by his father's murder and his mother's immediate marriage to his uncle, who takes the throne after murdering the reining king, are causing Hamlet to go mad. He was carrying too much weight from worrying about monarchy, state, justice, family and, loved ones. His deception caused a breakdown of values and believes causing what was once clear to be confused. This caused a state of unbalance that Hamlet took upon himself to
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