Why Hamlet Delays in Avenging his Father's Death
The tragic play 'Hamlet' by William Shakespeare, tells the story of
the enigmatic Prince Hamlet who is set the task of avenging the murder
of his father at the hand of his uncle, King Claudius. Though it is
clear that Hamlet harbours deep resentment towards his uncle and is
eventually certain of his mission, Hamlet is seen to consistently
delay in completing his task for various reasons. Whether it is
because Hamlet is a fundamentally pensive character who always thinks
before he acts or because he is crippled by his intelligence and moral
scruples, it can be argued that Hamlet's prolonged tarry results in
his eventual destruction.
Near the beginning of the play, Hamlet is confronted by an apparition
who claims to be the ghost of his dead father, the old King. The sprit
explains the details by which Claudius murdered him and how it is now
in purgatory until its death is avenged and old Hamlet's honour is
restored. However, having been set the task of killing the new king,
Hamlet is unsure whether the ghost is in fact the spirit of his dead
father or some evil demon and thus is uncertain of the validity of the
ghost's testimony. Thus his contemplative nature leads Hamlet to
scheme an elaborate means of establishing Claudius' guilt. He uses a
group of travelling actors to perform a scene that closely resembles
the means of old Hamlet's murder. He then plans to observe Claudius'
demeanour, should it change throughout the scene, his guilty
conscience would be established. "The play is the thing wherein I'll
catch the conscience of the King." Hence, part of Hamlet's delay can
be attrib...
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...antz and
Guildenstern. Unbeknownst to them they carry instruction from the King
that order Hamlet's immediate executions upon arrival to England.
Having discovered these orders shortly before being rescued by a
pirate vessel, Hamlet secretly modifies them to read that his two
friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern be executed. This puzzling
behaviour highlights Hamlet's complexities and demonstrates that
although he does delay in his task, he is not always indecisive and
contemplative in his nature.
Although Prince Hamlet's intentions are just and honourable, his
fundamentally introspective demeanour results in his long delay in
avenging his father's death. His grief, distraction by philosophical
ideas and his over rationalization of his thought process lead to his
prolonged procrastination and his eventual demise.
When a parent dies, you need someone to fall back on. This person helps you get through it and make you feel loved. If you do not have someone there to help you through this time, you often turn to other things like acting crazy and wanting to take your own life because you feel as if you are not loved and you want to get rid of the pain. Hamlet loved his father and his death took a big part of his life away from him. His mother, Gertrude, needed to spend time with him, to show him he was loved and someone cared about him. Gertrude was not there for Hamlet the way she should have been, and because of this he began to act like he was crazy. Instead of spending time with her son, Gertrude was busy getting married to the late Kings brother Claudius.
Grief is a painful emotion that people experience through troubling times in life, such as losing a loved one. Swiss psychiatrist, Elisabeth Kubler Ross, introduced the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, in the year of 1969. She explains that there is no correct way or time to grieve; the stages are used to familiarize people with the aspects of grief and grieving. Grief can over take someone’s life and lead to a negative downfall, such as Hamlet experiences in Hamlet, written by Williams Shakespeare. He undergoes a variety of barriers throughout the novel, such as his father is murdered, which leads to his downfall-death. Although Hamlet grieves, the denial stage is not present in the novel as it begins months after his father’s death. He does not fulfill the bargaining stage either. Ultimately, one can clearly see Hamlet fulfills the grieving process through the stages of Anger, depression, and acceptance.
Why does hamlet delay so much in avenging his father’s murderer? Is there a part of him that really doesn’t want to take revenge? These are questions readers may come up with after reading and analyzing the play. Hamlet is a play built on a long tragedy between many characters. This tragedy starts with the main character Princess Hamlet and his Uncle Claudius. Claudius is the antagonist in this play and starts all of the drama. Claudius is the reason why hamlet is trying to seek revenge. Other characters are trying to seek revenge throughout the entirety of the play also. Shakespeare in the play Hamlet, is trying to make this a play on revenge between many characters and also show the insecurities of Hamlet as he tries to seek revenge.
"’Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, / nor customary suits of solemn black / [ . . . ] but I have that within which passeth show; / these but the trappings and the suits of woe” (Shakespeare 1.2.76-73, 85-86) says Hamlet when confronted about his way of grieving over his father’s recent death. Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is a remarkable tale that is centered on the idea of death and grief. While death is a universal occurrence, meaning every person will deal with it, how we grieve after a loss is completely individual. To look at a formula of grief, most turn to the five stages of grief developed by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, a psychiatrist, who studied the topic in her book On Death and Dying. This model consists of denial, anger, sadness, bargaining, and acceptance, although the duration and order of the stages are different for every person. In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet the stages of grief are evident in his sadness, anger, and finally acceptance.
Hamlet, of the play, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, is a young man with many distinctive characteristics. He is the loving and beloved son of Hamlet, the deceased King of Denmark. He is talented in many ways, as actor, athlete, and scholar. Prince Hamlet draws upon many of his talents as he goes through a remarkable metamorphosis, changing from an average, responsible, young Prince to an apparently mad, raging son intent upon avenging his father’s untimely death.
Hamlet is a firm believer that he can control all of his action and his own destiny. Later on he realizes this is not the case as one person says, “Hamlet acknowledges that not everything is in his control, and that ultimately God determines what the outcome will be” (Hamletvsfate, Quotes) Hamlet is extremely religious more so than is portrayed in the lines of the play. Despite this he still thinks that he can control what happens to him or the people around him. As the play progresses Hamlet realizes that he cannot control everything that happens to him. This revelation occurs right after the person that Hamlet was supposed to be in love with, Ophelia, died. It was as if the death of that love was something that caused the rapid deterioration of hamlets psyche and to deal with that deterioration he had to believe that there was something bigger than him in the world. The acceptance of fate being bigger than
Beginning with the Greeks, tragedy has been an essential form of entertainment. Although it has changed slightly over time due to different religious and social values, it is still written and performed to this day. Perhaps the most well known tragedy of all time is Shakespeare's Hamlet. Hamlet is perhaps the epitome of all tragedy. Not only does the tragic hero Hamlet meet his demise, but all the main characters in the play at some point due to some flaw in their character, or some fatal decision, also meet the same fate. It is because of their character flaw and/or their fatal decision at some time during the play that their death can be justified.
The story of Hamlet has an array of view points. The question can be asked what does the story of Hamlet have to do with Redemption, Moral Revelation, and a Just Society or Justice. There are many aspects of the story that relate to these key concepts that are being taught in the world foundation class. A few examples will be touch upon in this essay.
This question is interesting in the fact that there are several major dramatic questions wrapped into the narrative. The one(s) that captivate(s) the reader – or audience member, in the case of a stage production or movie adaption – depend(s) largely on the specific character(s) of the play with which they associate themselves or with whom they develop an empathetic or emotional connection. For example, if they see themselves represented in the life of Hamlet, then they might be drawn to the dramatic questions of “What will be Hamlet’s response to the ghost of his father?” and/or “What will happen in the course of this bizarre forbidden relationship with Ophelia?” However, if they are drawn to the character of Queen Gertrude, then they might
Hamlet has long-been associated with the name of William Shakespeare as a masterful work of literary art. It is one of the most debated, celebrated and studied pieces of all time; a marvel of showmanship from one of the most famous authors to ever pick up the elegant pen of words. Those who have read the drama often marvel at the complexity of Hamlet himself, and debate his hesitancy of action throughout the tragedy-namely, the supposed murder of Claudius which he ‘must’ commit. While many scholars agree on Hamlet’s reasons for delay, critics have yet to narrow their thoughts on Hamlet’s overlying motive: why does behave the way he does? More importantly, what were Shakespeare’s motives in portraying Hamlet the way he ultimately does? Hamlet’s hesitation is not the most convoluted and interesting of the subjects; his rationale of purpose is what drives the entire work to be the complex enigma that it still is, to this day.
Through previous years, philosopher’s have tested numerous theories that help us in defining the nature of our being, often these are stalled by the nuanced thought behind our heart and mind. Philosophers often believed that we were slaves to our passions despite our reasoning, even now this could be proven by acts of love, but more than often proven it can be seen through our desire for revenge. Unlike it’s counterpart [avenge], revenge is both a verb and a noun that can be not only acted upon but attained. Revenge is what one seeks after being wronged and often an action never thought through by reason, but a fight of a person’s passions towards a self declared justice. Portrayed in a copious amount of movies, songs, and art, the theme of revenge has been held iconically within Shakespeare's most famous play, Hamlet. Centered around corruption of the mind, body and soul, Hamlet is seen by many as the embodiment of revenge through it’s characters (Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras); it is within their actions and development that each character portrays the dichotomy of their passion and reason to prove that we are slaves to our passions until reason catches up.
The loss of a loved one is difficult on everyone who knew them. It is especially tough on the people who were closest to and looked up to them. We can see Hamlet struggling immensely with the loss of his father at the beginning of the play. To make matters even worse, he does not have the emotional support of his mother and uncle. I would like to discuss Hamlet’s negative relationship with his relatives and its rather large impact on the play itself.
In Act 1 of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, power dynamics play a prominent role between the characters introduced. The root of power struggles between characters is one’s belief in their possession of the truth. Truth and power are synonymous with one another as the ability to manipulate the truth is linked to the influence one bears. “What would he not throw overboard in order to stay ‘on top’” (Nietzsche). Powerful father figures attempt to control their children through careful manipulation of “the truth” which makes their children (Hamlet and Ophelia) vulnerable to their influence.
`Hamlet' is no doubt one of the greatest literary works ever written. William Shakespeare presents in it complexity of human nature and examination of human behavior. After reading this drama one of the main questions we have to ask is ` Why does Hamlet delay?'. Why does he wait so long before taking revenge on Claudius for killing his father? While answering the question about postponement we have to take under consideration few aspects.
The perfection of Hamlet’s character has been called in question - perhaps by those who do not understand it. The character of Hamlet stands by itself. It is not a character marked by strength of will or even of passion, but by refinement of thought and sentiment. Hamlet is as little of the hero as a man can be. He is a young and princely novice, full of high enthusiasm and quick sensibility - the sport of circumstances, questioning with fortune and refining on his own feelings, and forced from his natural disposition by the strangeness of his situation.