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Why Hamlet Delays in Avenging his Father's Death..??
Hamelt delays killing Claudius for many reasons: (1) Considered against the background of ancient Greek and Roman revenge tragedies, the Ghost's command to "kill the king, but spare the queen" is like saying "make an omlette, but don't break any eggs." Hamlet has trouble working up just enough anger to punish murder, but tempering it with just enough compassion to spare (what was then regarded as) incest. (2) Hamlet delays killing others for the same reason he delays killing himself -- being poised on the edge of death (either inflicting it or suffering it) leads him to a series of highly illuminating moments and insights that Hamlet shares with us, particularly in the soliloquies, and he wants to extend this "self- educational" moment of crisis and see where it leads. (3) On a more mundane level, Hamlet wants to be completely convinced of Claudius's guilt first -- and as soon as he gets proof (The Mousetrap), Claudius virtually arrests Hamlet and whisks him out of the country. (4) It takes Hamlet a while to work up the nerve to commit regicide face to face and deliberately -- he tries in impulsively in act IV but kills the wrong man, Polonius; then proceeds to a more deliberate dispatch of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern...finally after having "practiced" in this way, he's ready to do the deed in Act V.
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I think Hamlet has excelent reason to delay. First off, somebody smart figured out that there is about 2 months time between when the ghost tells hamlet and when he kills claudius. That is a long time to delay. Keep in mind that killing a king is a major crime. He would certainly be killed as a result. I think that hamlet wants to kill the king the 'right' way whatever that may be. That's why he doesn't kill claudius while he's praying. If hamlet acts like laertes and immediatly goes off for revenge. Hamlet would have only succeeded in makeing the king a martyr. The truth of his father's murder would be lost forever. Laertes is an idiot, by the way, compared to hamlet. All he can do is react. I don't think he is capable of initiating an action.
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Hamlet delays because he does not have within himself a clear foundational philosophy of life, upon which he can make a decision and thereby act upon it. The old adage is that you can tell a tree by it's fruit, and the Delay of Hamlet points to a pretty 'mixed up tree.' Hamlet, through out the play points out that he has a variety of world views floating around within him. He goes to school in Wittenberg, the seat of the Christian Reformation. Through the play we see him speaking of his beliefs in Judaeo/Christian beliefs," that the everlasting had not fixed His canon against self slaughter", the fear of the after life (purgatory - ghost - damnation), etc. There is also a mix of PAGANISM in there, with fear of the undiscovered country (like a traveller crossing the river styx), not to mention that Danish / Viking type background with all its mythology, there is Humanism of the Enlightenment, ("What a piece of work is man"), there is Fatalism (O cursed spite that ever I was born to set it right", "There is a special providence (which also points to Christian predestination)), there is Existentialism (There is no good nor bad but thinking makes it so") and who knows what else. Hamlet is polluted with conflicting and warring world views. Add to this that he is a Prince, a student, a Dane, studying in Germany, an actor, a writer, overwhelmed with a melancholic disposition which bends towards manic-depression, and you begin to wonder how on earth he got anything done. Without a clear foundational belief, he can't settle on a final decision on what to do. If over reliance on his reasoning capabilities is his flaw (thinking too precisely on the event") - a highly touted trait within the enlightenment - then he needs a clear philosophy of life within him before he can make a final decision on how to exact his revenge. Until that occurs (and it never really does) Hamlet is left with indecision / procrastination. That's what I think ... today.
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المشاركة الأصلية كتبت بواسطة ஜClaudiusஜ
