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Hamlet's Tragic Flaw
What are the reasons of hamlet's delay in taking revenge
What are the reasons of hamlet's delay in taking revenge
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In William Shakespeare’s famous tragedy Hamlet, Prince of Demark, the main character Hamlet has a command to avenge his father-Old King Hamlet’s death. In other words, Hamlet has to kill the new King-Claudius. However, Hamlet misses three chances and experiences three times failures during the process of this revenge. The reason of this is because of Hamlet’s delay problems.
According to the play, Hamlet’s problem of delay shows at the moment his fails to murder Claudius. First, Hamlet needs to find out Claudius guilt in order to kill him. “ To be or not to be: that is the question.”(Shakespeare 1821). Hamlet struggles with the question of to be, he wants to kill Claudius, however, he has not find the guilt of Claudius, therefore he does not have courage to murder. In other words, these struggles are another form of excuses to delay his mission. Moreover, “Must give us pause”(Shakespeare1821). Hamlet explicitly express out that he want to take a break. This problem also shows in Hapgood’s essay, “Shakespeare’s characters often begin to part and then pause to add afterthoughts.”(Hap...
The vengeance of his father's death is the prime cause of Hamlet's obsession with perfection, his tendencies of over thinking philosophically, and idealistically, are what cause Hamlet's delay.
Hamlet is a normal person which brillant ideas. He waited so long to kill Claudius because he wanted people to be able to know the story of really happened and did not want to seem like a bad guy. Hamlet’s soliloquy, “To be or not to be” (Act 3,Scene 1 Line 64) also means should he live to do as his father or or die to betray him. Hamlet knew everything that was going on in the kingdom but wanted to act as if he did not to get even further in and have more information. He did this because he wanted to think a more brilliant plan to kill Claudius and anyone else that was dealing with it, that is how he killed
In the play, Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, Hamlet the main character struggles to avenge the death of his father. Fear paralyzes him as he holds off on getting revenge on the new King Claudius, who stole the royal throne by murdering Hamlet’s father. However, it isn’t just fear that makes him hesitant as he reasons the situation. Hamlet hesitates to take action because he struggles with making his own choices, just like his weak-minded mother, Gertrude.
The main object of his procrastination is the murder/assassination/revenge for his father of his uncle Claudius. The entire play he keeps on trying to kill Claudius, and just when it looks like he’ll do something, he chickens out. “Now I might do it pat. Now he is a-praying./And now I’ll do ‘t. And so he goes to heaven./And so I am revenged.--That would be scanned” (3.3.74-76). He says “I’ll do it” twice in a row. Claudius is praying, he isn’t seeing Hamlet, it’s a perfect opportunity. But why doesn’t he just get it over with? Ph.D. dude Piers Steel said: Depression heightens procrastination in two major ways. First, it saps your energy, and we all tend to put things off when we get tired; being exhausted is actually the number one reason for procrastination. Second, it increases your feelings of helplessness, to the point where you feel nothing you do makes a difference. When you lack confidence in your ability to complete a task, you are much more likely to procrastinate.” So if Hamlet is suffering from depression, then him procrastinating is a likely affect, a subconscious attempt to put off grueling tasks for later. He also exhibits no pleasures in his usual activities as he tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in his explanatory, albeit confusing speech: “I have of late--but wherefore I know not--lost all/my mirth, forgone all custom of
Ecclesiastes 7: 17 said “Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time?” Suicide is an important part in the bible. It is one of the things that is considered a sin in Christianity. The bible has lessons and commandments for Christians to follow and those lessons are represented in books. In the early 1600’s religion was an important part of people’s lives and writers incorporated it into their writings. William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet in the early 1600’s and he wrote about religion while he was writing about a prince’s revenge on his uncle. His uncle killed his father and he was prepared to take revenge. Hamlet and Christianity are both about the good, the bad and the afterlife which makes Hamlet a Christian play.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet revolves around the title character’s undeniable obligation to immediately avenge his father’s death by killing Claudius. Yet much time elapses before Hamlet finally does slay his evil uncle, leading to a fundamental question: what causes the hero to delay before eventually managing to salvage some retribution? The answer is that Hamlet’s reoccuring state of impractical contemplation renders him incapable of any decisive action that could have brought quick revenge.
To conclude, Hamlet’s inner conflicts were the reason that he struggled with his task and that struggle lead to his death. His inner conflicts got the best of him and progressively increase the difficulty of his mission by allowing Claudius to become more aware of the situation. Hamlet’s procrastination, distrust of women, and feigning of madness resulted in a series of events that rendered him incapable of finishing his task quickly and effectively in order to ensure his safety. Hamlet was only able to complete his task whilst his body was under the effect of adrenalin limiting his thoughts and making him more impulsive. As a result, it was only until he forgot about his inner conflict, that Hamlet was able to kill Claudius but, alas, it was too late.
Hamlet’s fatal flaw of hesitation is the reason why he did not carry out a plan to seek revenge for his father’s death, but the love that he felt for his mother enabled him to act when she died. Throughout the five acts of the play, Hamlet made several excuses as to why he could not kill Claudius. One of those many excuses was that he could not kill Claudius at the end of Act 3, Scene 3, when he was praying, as he would be sent to heaven:” Now might I do it pat. Now he is a-praying. And now I’ll do ’t. And so he goes to heaven. And so am I revenged.—That would be scanned. A villain kills my father, and, for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven.” Hamlet’s hesitation, therefore, demonstrates that he did not love his father as he could have enacted his revenge, but chose to wait until his mother was in danger, proving that his revenge was solely in defense of her. In addition to this, Hamlet overthinks everything, which is another one of his downfalls. Yet, when Gertrude is poisoned, he throws caution to the wind and acts without thinking. After she collapses and he realizes that she has been poisoned by Claudius, he forces him to drink, which then kills him. Hamlet’s immediate action in defense of Gertrude attests to the fact that his revenge was purely in defense of his
Why does Hamlet delay taking action against Claudius? This is a question that everyone want to know. We all know that Hamlet want to kill his Uncle Claudius as soon as possible. But why does he wait so long to sweep to his revenge? I believe that there are more than one reason why Hamlet delays before he takes action.
The situations where Hamlet unexpectedly acts were not relevant to his task, such as the murder of Polonius. During the play rehearsal, Hamlet is shocked by the emotion poured out by the actor over Hecuba, whom doesn’t even exist. Hamlet, whose father was murdered, does not have as near the passion that actor had. Hamlet criticizes himself, saying, “A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak/ Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,/ And can say nothing” (Shakespeare 2.2 578-580). Hamlet calls himself a coward for not doing anything to avenge his father, but rather just staying depressed and weep all day. According to Bradley, “Hamlet was restrained by conscience or a mural scruple; he could not satisfy himself that it was right to avenge his father” (Bradley 4). Hamlet is aware of his constant delays, but still cannot ready himself to kill Claudius because of the excuses he continuously makes up. After criticizing himself, Hamlet sets up a plan that only prolongs his chance of killing Claudius. Hamlet says, “The play’s the thing/ Wherin I’ll catch the conscience of the King” (Shakespeare 2.2 616-617). Hamlet creates a play that reenacts a specific scene, which resembles Claudius murdering his father. Hamlet wants to see Claudius’s reaction to the scene, and confirm his guilty reaction. According to Eliot, “The delay in revenge is unexplained on grounds of necessity or expediency;
Hamlet’s Procrastination and Cowardice In William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Hamlet is a loyal prince who vows to avenge his father’s murder. When Hamlet discovers the painful truth about his father’s death, he is left with feelings of hatred and resentment in his heart towards the murderer, Claudius. Although Hamlet is a very noble and sophisticated man, he struggles with the issue of avenging his father’s death. He swears his revenge will be quick, however, this is not the case. Since Hamlet is more into philosophizing than action, he thinks about his intention to kill Claudius. The more he thinks about his intention, the less he is able to execute it. The tragic flaw that Hamlet possesses is his inability to act. He vows that he is going to kill Claudius but backs out of it several times before the deed is actually done. Hamlet’s first sign of procrastination and lack of action begins to show through his character at the very beginning of the play. The ghost informs him about Claudius’ evil doings. Hamlet is prompt by replying: “Haste me to know’t; that I, with wings as swift As meditation or the thoughts of love, May sweep to my revenge.'; (Shakespeare, p. 67) This passage shows how Hamlet decides to avenge his father’s death. In fact, he declares that he will be committed to nothing else but the revenge against Claudius:
Although Hamlet’s reasoning has some legitimacy, it serves as an excuse for Hamlet to put off the murder until later. Linguistics research scholar Shivani Kaul offers her explanation for why Hamlet chooses to procrastinate throughout the play:
Shakespeare purposely makes Hamlet out to be a procrastinator for one very important reason, if Hamlet would have quickly pursued this revenge, Gertrude, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Laertes, and of course Hamlet himself would have survived and the play would not have become a tragedy. There are many reasons for Hamlet's long delay. Some reasons which include not being unable to commit the murder are Hamlet's fear of what would happen if he did kill Claudius, his concience bothering him for taking the life of his uncle, his disbelief in the ghost, and because of his facination with death. The most important reason that him back from committing the murder is if Hamlet were to carry out what the Ghost told him and carried out immediate revenge, how would Hamlet be able to convince the people that he justifiably executed an act of revenge.
Hamlet is more like a calculated, rational thinking, and intelligent character. In fact, his calculated thoughts begin to work against him. He uses his rational thinking, and hide behind the excuses instead of seeking unsympathetic revenge, and to kill Claudius the fake king. The evolution of Hamlet’s feelings toward revenge play an important role in the creation of this tragic flaw. Like from the beginning when he gains knowledge about his father’s death. The intense feel...
Hamlet's delay came from a conflict between action and awareness that made him see both sides of every issue. Hamlet realized that to avenge his father’s death, he must kill Claudius, but at the same time he knew that there would be consequences for this action. For example, in Act III, scene III, Hamlet had the opportunity to kill Claudius, but he believed that Claudius was praying. If Hamlet had killed Claudius when he was praying for forgiveness, Hamlet believed Claudius would have gone to heaven. Thinking this, Hamlet decided to wait until the king was doing something bad, so that Claudius would go to hell.