It seems that Hamlet does not want to extract revenge and he regrets promising the ghost that he will do so, “O cursed spite,/That ever I was born to set it right! (I.v.28). Hamlet has many opportunities to kill Claudius throughout the course of the play. Hamlet considers killing Claudius while he is confessing his sins. Hamlet then does what he is good at and reconsiders his actions.
In the play Hamlet acts mad. He is not crazy however but is merely pretending to be. Before he begins this act he tells Horatio and Marcellus what he is about to do. Polonius notices that there is too much sense in Hamlets charade for him to be truly crazy. Hamlet makes sure his uncle is guilty of murder before enacting his revenge.
He even contemplates suicide but his rational mind stops him from doing so. Hamlet is painfully aware that committing suicide will damn his soul to hell. Shortly after, Hamlet meets with the ghost of his father. The ghost of King Hamlet tells Hamlet that Claudius, the brother of King Hamlet, killed him. The ghost asks Hamlet to avenge his “most foul murder.” However, he warns Hamlet not to let revenge consume his mind.
He asks Laertes a similar question, ``Make up my sum. What thou do for her?” (V, I, 281). The difference between Claudius and Hamlet is the reason that they bring up these two questions. The purpose of Claudius’ question is that he wants to use the suggestion therapy to tell Hamlet not to take revenge on him, but the reason Hamlet asks Laerte is based on his anger to Laerte’s emphasis on the grievance. The second difference that can be contrasted is the purpose of their acts of murder.
On the hand, there lies Claudius. The reader has just learned that he was willing to kill his own brother to become king. Murder is a horrible thing, but killing your own brother for your own selfish needs is far beyond horrible. When learning this, in combination with feel bad for Hamlet, the reader is left hating Claudius for what he has done. Additionally, this is a very important scene in the play.
When the Ghost and Hamlet finish their dialog Hamlet agrees to seek revenge against Claudius, but still doesn’t act. As the story goes, Horatio and Hamlet decided to test the King conscience with the re-act of the play of the king Hamlet death, so that way Hamlet could tell if the Claudius was guilty by his reaction, so after the performance the prince find Claudius kneeling alone praying. “Now might I do it pat. Now he is a-praying.
But later on, we discover Hamlet is not mad, and that it was all just an act. He puts back on his shoes, and the killing begins. Hamlet is only crazy in the purpose of fooling his step-uncle, to confess to killing the king. Hamlet craves the vengeance, and is successful in a way Claudius ends up paying for his deed. But at the end, everyone loses and dies except Horatio.
When actions are to be taken into consideration by him it seen that he situation is horrible, which Hamlet feels he has no control over. He allows his anger towards Claudius to let him fall into a madness. The depression Hamlet is encountering is due to the actions that King Hamlet is demanding of him. He cannot complete the task asked of him of his procrastination, which causes him to nearly take his own life. “To be or not to be, that is the question; whether’ tis nobler in the mind to suffer...” (Shakespeare Act 3, Scene 1).
Which everyone knows will lead to his downfall. To prove this is the reason, while analyzing the play, the points that come to mind are that Hamlet only acts when he does not think about the consequences of his actions, and when he accuses himself of over thinking, catching himself in the act, or even when Hamlet had a clear chance to kill Claudius but stop and thinks of all the things that will happen to him. From all these points it is clear that the reason Hamlet delays to avenge his father’s death is because he is in a deep state where he “over-thinks” or “over-philosophizes” which can suggest that he is in fact “thought-sick”. Wolfgang Von Goethe presents the point that the delay is a natural struggle, of a “lovely, pure and most sensitive nature, without the strength of
Furthermore, Shakespeare exhibits how Hamlet chose to devise a plan of acting mad, rather than avenging his father’s death immediately, progressing to his demise. On the other hand, Hamlet questions the appearance of his father: “The spirit that I have seen may be the devil”(II.ii.610,611). Consequently, Shakespeare conveys that Hamlet’s indecisiveness about his father’s murderer necessitates him to procrastinate more, and lead further to his death. However, Hamlet accomplishes the opportunity to murder Claudius, yet believes it is not the right time: “Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent”(III.iii.91). In fact, he desires that “...his soul may be damned and black as hell”(III.iii.97).