Hamlet's Hesistation to Kill Claudius

1500 Words3 Pages

How far do you agree that Hamlet’s hesitation to kill Claudius in Act Three is underpinned by religious reasons? Of all the different motives Shakespeare presents for Hamlet’s lack of action, which seems to be the most important?

Critics have attempted to explain Hamlet’s delay in avenging his father for centuries and the most relevant scene to illustrate Hamlet’s hesitation is in Act Three when Hamlet has the opportunity to kill Claudius but doesn’t. Hamlet says at the time that he does

“this same villain send

To heaven.”

It could be said that Hamlet is deliberately delaying his revenge for fear of actually committing it. However, religion was a focal part of people’s lives at the time the play was set and at the time it was written, one would be justified in claiming that Hamlet genuinely didn’t want to kill Claudius while he was praying to prevent him from going to heaven.

Furthermore, it is possible to propose that Shakespeare merely uses this scene to provoke irritation and consequently suspense from the audience. If Hamlet wasn’t given this opportunity to kill Claudius we would have not this insight into Hamlet’s indecisiveness, possible cowardice and inability to kill Claudius in cold blood. It is probable to suggest that through this soliloquy we are shown that Hamlet’s initial passion for revenge after the Ghost’s visitation has faded as the play progresses to merely thinking about killing Claudius.

This scene is in fact a visual representation of Hamlet’s problem throughout the play, this focal problem is open to two different interpretations: either Hamlet has the ability and passion to kill Claudius but he doesn’t have the right time to do it, or Hamlet doesn’t have the self-assurance and courage to do ...

... middle of paper ...

...ilst he is praying is heavily ‘underpinned’ by religious reasons, as I have already mentioned religion was a very important part of people’s lives at the time. There are several other reasons why Hamlet didn’t kill Claudius in Act III Scene III, which Hamlet reveals himself in his soliloquies. I think it is fair to say that the most valid reason for Hamlet’s delay in avenging his father is the lack of the right situation. This is most apparent when Hamlet kills Polonius, showing that he has the ability and the courage to kill Claudius. However, the right situation took so long to arise because it must involve Hamlet being in the right, hot-blooded, passionate state of mind as well as Claudius being in the right situation.

Word Count - 1449

Bibliography

, York Notes – Hamlet

, Arden Shakespeare – Harold Jenkins commentary

, www.123helpme.com

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