William Shakespeare, perhaps the greatest playwright of all time, authored a number of works consisting of sonnets, comedies, and tragedies. In his brilliant career, Shakespeare created literary works of art.
What makes Shakespeare unlike any other writer of his time, is his ability to organize a realistic plot, manage themes, and develop characters within his works (Nordling). As well, Shakespeare's ability to provoke feeling and reaction to his writing is also what sets him apart from other common writers. Of his works, Hamlet is perhaps the most studied and most interesting of the collected tragedies. In this play, many question the actions of the characters and particularly the actions of Hamlet. The answer to: 'Why does Hamlet delay
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Undoubtedly, Hamlet is a man of action. (Eliot)
Why then, does Hamlet require five Acts to finally prove this concept? A number of different possibilities exist. The single, most important of these possibilities are Hamlet's internal conflicts within his own mind, body, and soul. From the first Act,
Hamlet displays a substantial amount of concern for his mother."...Why, she would hang on him / As if increase of appetite had grown / By what it fed on; and yet, within a month / Let me not think; Frailty, thy name is woman!" Clearly, Hamlet's concern for the Queen, his mother, is genuine. Within this thought, Hamlet realized the severity of his mother's actions while also attempting to rationalize her mentality so that he may understand, and perhaps, cope with the untimely nature of the Queen's marriage to Claudius. Understandably, Hamlet is disturbed. (Nighan)
Gertrude causes such confusion in Hamlet that throughout the play, he constantly wondered how it could be possible that events would turn out the way that they had. This unfortunate turn of events is often questioned since Gertrude, the same woman who had instilled a great sense of religion in Hamlet, contradicts such a value that proves "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." (Nordling) While regarding this as the principal means for Hamlet's frustration, it is not until seeing a spirit form that Hamlet decided to seek the truth, and ultimately, exact revenge. After envisioning the
Hamlet is many things: scholar, speaker, actor, and prince. His greatness shows in all of activities, save one: his inability to act. Hamlet is not able to avenge his father's death without considerable delay. There is a flaw in Hamlet's character that causes him to postpone the murder of Claudius - this flaw is Hamlet's idealism. While idealism is normally a good trait, in this case, because of the unusual circumstances, Hamlet's idealism causes great conflicts within him.
`Hamlet' is no doubt one of the greatest literary works ever written. William Shakespeare presents in it complexity of human nature and examination of human behavior. After reading this drama one of the main questions we have to ask is ` Why does Hamlet delay?'. Why does he wait so long before taking revenge on Claudius for killing his father? While answering the question about postponement we have to take under consideration few aspects.
Shakespeare, the man who wrote 37 plays and more than a hundred sonnets, is known throughout the world. Many people consider him one of the best English playwrights of our time, others say that he was a genius.
Hamlet is a suspenseful play that introduces the topic of tragedy. Throughout the play, Hamlet displays anger, uncertainty, and obsession with death. Although Hamlet is unaware of it, these emotions cause the mishaps that occur throughout the play. These emotions combined with his unawareness are the leading basis for the tragic hero’s flaws. These flaws lead Hamlet not to be a bad man, but a regular form of imperfection that comes along with being human.
William Shakespeare is an extremely famous English poet and playwright and widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. He was most prominent in the years 1585-1592 writing 38 plays. Richard 3rd is considered to be one of his greatest plays and was written in 1591 depicting the
Hamlet, the eponymous hero of Shakespeare’s greatest work, descends swiftly into madness and paranoia after the murder of his father and the realization of his mother’s true, morally reprehensible, nature. As a result of these new responsibilities and extreme circumstances, Hamlet diverges from his usual, logical thinking into paranoia and over analysis, a condition that prevents him from trusting anyone. Hamlet, having been born a prince, is, for the first time, forced to make his own decisions after he learns of the true means of his father’s death. Another contributing factor to his madness is the constant probing of others into Hamlet’s sanity. These factors all contribute to Hamlets delay, and that delay contributes to the tragic
Hamlet is a character that we love to read about and analyze. His character is so realistic, and he is so romantic and idealistic that it is hard not to like him. He is the typical young scholar facing the harsh reality of the real world. In this play, Hamlet has come to a time in his life where he has to see things as they really are. Hamlet is an initiation story. Mordecai Marcus states "some initiations take their protagonists across a threshold of maturity and understanding but leave them enmeshed in a struggle for certainty"(234). And this is what happens to Hamlet.
Hamlet’s distaste towards Claudius and his obsession towards his mother can be seen when he states, “Why, she would hang on him/ As if increase of appetite had grown/ By what it fed on,” (Shakespeare 1.2.147-149). This quote can be found in Hamlet’s Act 1, Scene 2 soliloquy, in which he laments about his mother’s new marriage to Claudius. In this quote particularly, Hamlet is distressing over the fact that Hamlet’s mother has moved on quickly after his father’s death and seemed to only grow closer to Claudius the more time she spent with him. To the reader, this may not seem so unusual as situations like those often occurred in the time of Shakespeare as a way for one person to gain royal power. Hamlet, however, fails to see the logical explanation and instead focuses solely on the distress he feels over his mother’s relationship with Claudius.
What makes Hamlet so intriguing as a character in his avoidance in the actions we expect him to carry out, as he constantly postpones his actions in order to acquire more insight and certainty about current situations and about what he plans to do in response, and the following consequences of his decision bringing about two of the plays major
Moreover, as mother to Hamlet, she acts largely as a reflection of the evils within Claudius. Much of the antagonism Hamlet directs towards her is, thus, aimed clearly at the elements of her that mirror Claudius: her lustfulness and corruption. In return, however, Gertrude offers Hamlet a level of motherly love and understanding. When she says "Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet. / I pray thee, stay with us, go not to Wittenberg," she quite clearly is expressing simple love and a desire to remain close to Hamlet. While Claudius is purely destructive towards Hamlet, Gertrude's ability to filter her lustfulness and corruption through her womanhood allows her to act, at least on some level, as a positive force on Hamlet.
He acidly snaps at Gertrude, "Mother, you have my father much offended" (Hamlet, III, iv, 13). It is not that his mother is a woman that haunts and maddens Hamlet, but the fact that she chooses Claudius over himself. He believes that she does not actually love Claudius, but was merely seduced or tricked, and he cries out in anguish:
Through Hamlet’s soliloquies, he insults his mother more than he praises her. As it is found in his first soliloquy, “Frailty, thy name is woman!” (1.2.146). He calls her weak because he believes that she has married too soon, showing that she may have also been attracted to Claudius before his father’s death. Hamlet is also ashamed of his mother, not only for marrying too soon, but for not being loyal to one man and husband
The play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, is a very connected play, as every event that happens can be explained by another past event. The lines in Act 4, Scene Three represent this well:
Hamlet's first thoughts after learning of his father's murder are of an immediate, violent revenge upon Claudius. However, his subsequent actions do not live up to these resolutions. Over four acts he takes little deliberate action against his uncle, although the ghost explicitly demands a swift revenge. In S. T. Coleridge's words, Hamlet's central weakness is that he is "continually resolving to do, yet doing nothing but resolve".
Gertrude fools herself by thinking everything she has done is justified because of Claudius who influenced her thoughts. She needs Hamlet to show her all the wrong she has done, she cannot realize herself. While Hamlet and the Ghost of Hamlet’s father are talking, Hamlet’s father talks about Gertrude,