Introduction
Factors Influencing Hamlet’s Delay for Revenge
“The Tragedy of Hamlet, Price of Denmark” is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. the Play is set in Denmark and often depicts prince Hamlet and his revenge against his uncle Claudius who has murders his father, old Hamlet to seize the throne and marry Hamlet’s mother. Prince Hamlet is summoned back home to Denmark to bury his father and finds his mother remarried to Claudius. Shortly after his return his father’s ghost appears to him and discloses that it is Claudius who murdered him. Hamlet is unable to complete his revenge and his problem is presented in Act one. He is worried what enacting his revenge will make him and whether it will taint his name. Characters that have no difficulty completing their revenge have been used to effectively bring out Hamlets delay and inability to act. His quest is delayed in two significant ways, first he doubts the trustworthiness of the ghost and he has to prove his uncles’ guilt. Hamlet has been set to be a character of meditation and melancholy and might account for his delay. Hamlet spares the life of his uncle once when he found him praying. Family obligations and the fact that he is of royal status is also a hinderance towards completing his revenge. The of delaying his revenge can also be referred as tactical as he was waiting for the right time to strive his uncle. Eventually, the act of revenge is eventually fulfilled a couple of hundred pages and a thousand lines later. The story of Hamlet attracts admiration and pity as equal measures because he finally falls from his lofty positions due to his inability to act sooner.
His problem is presented in Act one “Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift as meditation or the thoughts of love, may sweep to my revenge.”, But throughout the five acts of the Play Hamlet ultimately fails to “sweep” to his revenge” (1.5.29-31). He is hit by the realization that to fully enact his revenge he will have to commit a crime like the one committed on his father, thus enacting his revenge will make him a beast of a man while not enacting the revenge will still leave his as a beast of a man. Hamlet is also concerned that he will leave behind a wounded name, he fails to realize that his name is already wounded as a result of his father’s murder. Hamlet also realizes that carrying out his revenge will make him stoop to his uncles’ level (Jamieson, n.p). These are among the external and internal factors at play hindering Hamlet from carrying out his revenge
To effectively highlight Hamlet’s inability to take revenge Shakespeare utilized character that were capable of taking resolute, headstrong revenge. An example of this character is Fortinbras who travels many miles to carry out his revenge which he succeeds in. Laertes plot to kill Hamlet to avenge his father Polonius (Jamieson, n.p). Compared to these headstrong characters the revenge of Hamlet is ineffectual since once he decided to take action he delays until the very final end of the play. This form of delay in Elizabethan revenge tragedies is not uncommon but it is intriguing how Shakespeare uses this delay to build up Hamlets character, a character that is mixed up of emotional and psychological complexity. The “to be or not to be” soliloquy is Hamlets debate with himself on what to do and whether what he does will matter at all (3.1.65-88). The desire to avenge his father becomes clearer as his speech continues. Despite the desire so many factors at play do not allow him to kill his uncle until the very end of the play.
In his quest to right the wrong doing of his uncle Hamlet delays acting towards justice for many reasons. This revenge is delayed in two significant ways. He doubts the trustworthiness of the ghost, “The spirit that I have seen May be the devil; and the devil hath power T' assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps Out of my weakness and my melancholy as he is potent with such spirits, abuses tne to damn me. I'll have grounds, More relative than this. The play's the thing Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King." (2.2.585-592) as a result he has to establish if Claudius is truly guilty which he finally does in act three when Claudius storms out during the performance. After this Hamlet considers the length of his revenge. At first Hamlet is presented with a chance to finally murder his uncle in Act three scene three. He draws his sword but he is worried that his uncle will go to heaven if he killed him while praying and his revenge will be unfulfilled. Insecurity is spread over the whole play, Hamlet at first is unsure, therefore, his hands are tied and he is unable to do anything. Hamlet can be seen as a talker but not one who is quick to act on his words (Jamieson, n.p). Even after learning of his uncle’s guilt he is still unable to kill him and he delays his actions.
Shakespeare set Hamlet as a character of meditation and melancholy, therefore, the task of revenge is too enormous for the fragile and Melancholic Hamlet. In another instance Hamlet might not want to kill his uncle because if the Oedipus complex, it can also be assumed that Hamlet intends to make the death of his uncle more painful that of old Hamlet. He can also be described as a Christian prince who is concerned for his soul and fears that he will be damned for eternity if he dares take the life of his uncle (Jamieson, n.p). One could also speculate that Hamlet does not want to accused of overthrowing his uncle and irritate his uncle’s supporters by attempting to kill their king. As a result of the combination of his moral and religious beliefs, he struggles to make the decision whether enacting revenge will doom his own soul or save Claudius from eternal damnation.
Hamlet is an intellectual and reflective individual who often than not prefer to ponder rather than take action. This can as well account for one of the reasons he delayed his revenge for so long. He is also idealistic and moralistic and he is unsure of the morality of killing his uncle as evidenced by "the dread of something after death. The undiscover'd country from whose bourn. No traveller returns, puzzles the will. And makes us rather bear those ills we have. Than fly to others that we know not of." (3.1.65-88). Hamlet is of a loyal status and has family obligations. The King who is Claudius stands at the top level of power and if Hamlet attempts to kill him then he would stand to face dire consequences despite the fact that he faced no consequences after killing Polonius who was a lower status compared to him. After Claudius married Hamlet’s mother, he becomes his stepfather. In this case Hamlet is not only considering killing a mere man but a man who is his stepfather (Dawson, et al., n.p). This is a dilemma created by loyal position and family obligation. After he has murdered Polonius, Hamlet is forcefully sent to England and his obligation to the ghost of his father seems all but forgotten. Upon his return he shows no signs nor displays any desire to kill Claudius. In Act five it is during Hamlets dying moments that he finally decided to carry out his revenge and he does so without second guess, he poisons the king in revenge for scheming to poison him but instead poisons his wife and Hamlet’s mother Gertrude (Shakespeare). In other word it is can be said that he enacted his revenge by chance, his fathers murder might have gone unavenged.
Claudius act of delaying his revenge over and over again can also be termed as tactic. At first, he spares Claudius life because he wants to send his soul to purgatory which is the main reason, he does not harm him when he finds him praying, “"drunk asleep, or in his rage, or in the incestuous pleasure of his bed", not while he is praying, so that he can make sure "his soul may be as damn'd and black as hell, whereto it goes" (3.3.89-95). His plan is to kill him when he has sin so he can decent to purgatory. When Hamlet finally kills Claudius, it is during sin since he had poisoned his wife though unknowingly and with his death at the climax of sin, Hamlet is assured that he is not going to heaven but purgatory and with that his revenge is fulfilled (5.2.67-70.). His act for delaying might as well be regarded as a strategic flaw.
Conclusion
Hamlet is a play by Shakespeare, Hamlet prince of Denmark is the main protagonist and the main events revolves around him. He comes home bury his father; upon his return he discovers that his mother the queen married her husband’s brother Claudius who also assumed power after the death of his brother. The Ghost of his father appears to him with the information that Claudius murdered him. Hamlet has to confirm the trustworthiness of the ghost and his uncles’ guilt and he sooner confirms that Claudius killed his father. Hamlet is unable to complete his revenge for many reasons. His father is not avenged until the last scene, Hamlet manages to kill his uncle and dies after him from poisoning. His inability to act sooner is the reason he couldn’t avenge his father until his own dying moment.
Works Cited
Dawson, George. Shakespeare and other lectures. George St. Clair, ed. London: K. Paul, 1888. Shakespeare Online. 2 Aug. 2011. < http://www.shakespeare- online.com/plays/hamlet/hamletdelay.htm
Jamieson, Lee. "Hamlet and Revenge." ThoughtCo, Sep. 16, 2019, thoughtco.com/revenge-in- hamlet-2984979.
Shakespeare, William, and John Seely. Heinemann Advanced Shakespeare: Hamlet. , 1970. Print.
McClure, Haven. The Modern Reader's Hamlet. London: R.G. Badger, 1922. Shakespeare Online. 15 Sept. 2013. < http://www.shakespeare- online.com/plays/hamlet/hamletfivereasons.html
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