Indecision, Hesitation and Delay in Shakespeare's Hamlet

A tragic hero is defined as a great or virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy who is destined for downfall, suffering, or defeat. The hero in these tragedies is often presented as a noble however, flawed character whose demise is often impart to their own decisions, often due to their previously mentioned flaws, error in judgment and imprudent actions. Written in the early 1600’s Shakespeare wrote one arguably one of his greatest and highly controversial plays, the tragedy known as Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Shakespeare in his play introduces us the pays one of his most popular, enigmatic, and dynamic characters the tragic hero Prince Hamlet. Hamlet is presented to us a sensitive, religious, loyal, moral, intellectual, and young university student who often contemplates difficult philosophical questions that cannot be answered with any degree of certainty. When Hamlet learns that his father, the king of Denmark, had been murdered, he is drawn away from his studies and proceeds to return home in order to ascertain the truth of his father’s death. In his investigation, he encounters his father’s ghost whom tells Hamlet that his uncle Claudius, the present king of Denmark, is responsible for his murder. Now presented with evidence that Claudius murdered his father, Hamlet becomes obsessed with first proving Claudius’s guilt before taking any actions in exacting revenge on him.

However, Hamlet is extremely pensive and reluctant to carry out on his intended actions as he constantly overanalyzes each thought due to his intellectual nature, causing him to ignoring his emotions and instincts but rather rely his morality and logic in order to make decisions. However, with the idea of Hamlet being intellectual and logical in nature bein...

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...e Ghost. Hamlet being an introspective scholar, reflects on his willingness to avenge his father’s death yet desires to carry it out in a moral and accepting manner. But, Hamlet’s awareness of his morals is creates impossibility of murdering Claudius in a manner that he finds morally acceptable thus leading to Hamlet’s frequent delay in exacting revenge.

Works Cited

Bevington, David. The Necessary Shakespeare. 4th Edition. New Jersey: Pearson, (2013): 546-604. Print.

Kemp, Lysander. "Understanding "Hamlet". National Council of Teachers of English. 13.1 (1951): 9-13. JSTOR. Web. 8 December 2013.

McCloskey, John C. “Hamlet’s Quest of Certainty.” College English Vol. 9 (1941): 445-451. JSTOR. Web. 11 December 2013.

Snider, Jacques Denton. The Shakespearean drama. St. Louis: G. T. Jones and Company, (1877): 286-418. Web. Shakespeare Online. 15 December 2013.