Hamlet’s procrastination: a study on his failure to act Essay

juncture is a pass written by William Shakespeare, between the years of 1599 and 1601, under the reign of King James I. The play, set in the kingdom of Denmark, recounts the tragic tale of how Prince crossroads enacts punish on his Uncle Claudius, for murdering his get, (King crossroads), marrying Gertrude, (his widowed mother, King critical points wife), and succeeding to heir of the throne. The tragic flaw, (Hamartia), of the protagonist settlement, is arguably his procrastination in the enactment of his revenge.Throughout the play, Hamlet had many opportunities to avenge his produces death by murdering Claudius moreover, there was always seemed to be something curb him. There are many reasons as to why Hamlet may own delayed the revenge be it the fact that Hamlet feared the consequence of killing, maybe he doubted the speck, it could be that Hamlet didnt ask to blemish his mother, or maybe even the fact that he was a renaissance Prince, and didnt cogitate in violence . Hamlets procrastination can non be proved by either one of these theories, exclusively rather, a complex combination of them all.The around not fit reasons as to why Hamlet delayed in the killing of Claudius are because he doubted the nature of the speck, and the consequence that came with killing another man, and because he did not regard to hurt his mother. Whatever the case, it is quite evident that Hamlet procrastinated the avenging of his fathers death, thereby causing the deaths of Gertrude, Laertes, Polonius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and most importantly, himself this procrastination no other factor is refutably Hamlets tragic flaw. At the beginning of the play, the ghost presented itself.No one knew who, or what the ghost wanted. It was Horatio who had to speak to the ghost If thou art privy to thy provinces fate, / Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid, / O, speak / Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life / Extorted treasure in the uterus of earth, / For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death, / Speak of it stay, and speak (Shakespeare 1. 1). Hamlet was not sure however who the ghost really was. Following his phantasmal beliefs, Hamlet may concord easily interpreted the ghost as being an evil spirit.To determine whether Claudius was guilty of killing his father, and furthermore clarify the identity of the ghost, Hamlet conducted a play, in which the murder of his father was re-enacted. This play, known as the murder of Gonzago, was directed by Hamlet in which Horatio, would observe the reaction of Claudius. If Claudius would become hesitant, Hamlet would then know, the ghost spoke the truth Ill have grounds / more relative than this the plays the thing / wherein Ill catch the scruples of the king (Shakespeare 2. 2).Horatio observed that Claudius did react hesitantly, and therefore, Hamlet now knew that Claudius was guilty. Hamlet was quite religious. This is seen in the prayer ikon Now might I do it pat, now he is praying /And now Ill dot. And so he goes to heaven / And so am I revenged. That would be scannd / A villain kills my father and for that, / I, his sole son, do this same villain send / To heaven. (Shakespeare 3. 3. 77-82). This quote explains to the audience that Hamlet is very religious he fears the result of killing.If he was to kill Claudius while Claudius himself was praying, Claudius would have been sent to heaven, (as his soul was cleansed), and Hamlet would have been forced to suffer the sin of killing. And finally, the last possible reason was that Hamlet did not want to hurt his mother. Hamlet did not want to upset his mother, especially after the ghost, Hamlets father, warned Hamlet to not hurt her in any way. Hamlet said, will speak daggers to her, / hardly use none (Shakespeare 3. 2). This indicated Hamlets protection to his mother.He spoke to her in an abrupt tone at eons, but neer physically treated her in any such way. Hamlet didnt want to kill Claudius because he didnt want to see his mother suffer a loss of another loved one. Sigmund Freud, a great scholar, goes deeper than this, and explains the situation as, Oedipus Complex. Freud explains that Hamlet is in love with his mother. In Shakespearean time, incest was not publicly acceptable. Claudius was the hardly person that was forcing Hamlet to not have sexual relations with his mother.Hamlet, in his subconscious mind, had a thirst to do exactly what his uncle had done that is, get rid of the husband so that he can have Gertrude for himself. If that is true, Hamlet cannot act because he is fighting against his subconscious he knows he wants something that is entirely evil, and if he were to go through with it, he would be no better than Claudius. Freud continues this analogy with the fact that Hamlet is only able to kill Claudius at the end of the play, because his mother has just died. Therefore, Claudius serves no further purpose, and Hamlet can fare his revenge.Throughout the play, it is quite evident that Hamlets tragic flaw is his procrastination in the avenging of his fathers death. Most scholars tend to agree with the fact that the, Oedipus Complex, seems to be most logical in the description of his procrastination still, some critics believe that Hamlet simply thinks too much. He wants the murder of the King to be perfect. Claudius has to go to hell. The people have to know about the murderer Claudius. Hamlet spends too much time planning and not enough time doing thus, making the Kings murder more confused than other murders he has orchestrated.This procrastination is ultimately responsible for the deaths of most major characters, and the entire outcome of the play. Had Hamlet enacted his revenge at the beginning of the play, the play as a whole would have been un-existent. Not until everybody is dying, including himself, does he realize that he should not have waited so long. He understands the consequences of his delay, and all of his pent-up rage explodes, and he murders the King getting the revenge he was after from the beginning. It seems at this point, however, that it is no revenge at all, but simply the last tragic mistake of lifeless indecision.Works CitedN.A. Why does Hamlet delay the Revenge. http//www.bookrags.com/attempt 2005/11/27/135143/31. Book Rags, 2006. Web. Nov. 2, 2011.N.A. Hamlet. http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet. Wikipedia, Nov. 2, 2001. Web. Nov. 2, 2011.