William Shakespeare’s Play the Tragedy of Hamlet
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William Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is considered among the most influential work in world literature. It is a story of murder, revenge, and delay. In the play, Shakespeare tells the story of the young Prince Hamlet, who finds his father dead, mother remarried to his uncle, Claudius, when he was studying abroad. Upon told by King Hamlet’s ghost that Claudius had murdered him and seized the throne, Hamlet is set the task of avenging the murder of his father. The question why Hamlet delays killing Claudius has been a source of endless speculation to critics and readers. The theories that explain the causes of Hamlet’s delay can be divided into two major groups: he is impacted by external circumstances; and it is caused by Hamlet’s internal characteristics. This essay will discuss the reasons of Hamlet’s delay from an internal point of view by examine his weakness of will, his melancholy, and his conscience that cause the imbalance between his actions and thoughts.
The first issue when it comes to the matter of his delay, is his consciousness.
The “weakness of will theory” is also widely accepted. According to this theory, Hamlet is an idealist and he has the trait of irresolution. His natural scholarly and philosophical persona
Hamlet is an idealistic character, as he believes that people should act in a moral way and is crushed when they dont. He is disappointed that his mother, Gertrude, has married Claudius shortly after her husband, Hamlets father, dies. In addition, he considers Claudiuss murder of his brother (Hamlets father) to be so amoral as to be sickening. Hamlet also expects constancy and dedication from his former beloved, Ophelia, and is distraught when he finds that she is wavering between allegiance to him and allegiance to her father, Polonius. Hamlet is destined to be upset because he expects constancy and morality and finds