Hamlet's Delay

Paper Summary:

The paper relates that although critics and scholars have offered many different reasons for Hamlet's delay in avenging the death of Denmark's King, none of these possible causes have received unanimous acceptance. The paper then examines the various plausible explanations for Hamlet's delay in killing Claudius. The paper also explains that there is some degree of certainty that Hamlet's obvious madness, whether it was feigned or real, had a great deal of influence on his actions.

From the Paper:

"It has also been said that Hamlet's delay was caused by doubt about Claudius's action or the motive of the ghost. It is seen that Hamlet does suspect the motives of the ghost when he wonders if it could be a devil trying to lure him to commit the hideous crime. But this doubt is soon settled during the play scene and Hamlet is still unsure of his reaction and leaves for England. Morality is also out of question as the possible cause because Hamlet feels no remorse or burden on his conscience when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern die. (V.ii.58) This shows that he fully understood the difference between killing an innocent man and killing an offender."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bradley AC. Shakespearean tragedy [2nd ed]. New York: St Martin's Press, 1924
• Beck P. Symptoms and assessment of depression. In: Paykel ES, ed. Handbook of affective disorders [2nd ed]. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone, 1997
• Samuel Johnson, On Shakespeare, Penguin, London. 1989.
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Writings on Shakespeare, Capricorn, N.Y. 1959.

More papers on Hamlet's Delay:

• Analytical Essay # 6448 : "Why Doesn't Hamlet Just Kill Claudius?"
• Book Review # 91813 : "Hamlet"
• Analytical Essay # 23206 : "Hamlet" and the Ghost"
• Analytical Essay # 1692 : "Hamlet's Revenge"

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