Why Did Hamlet Delay The Killing of Claudius?

Hamlet junior is the protagonist in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Throughout the play, Hamlet misses numerous opportunities in killing Claudius and he delays in avenging his father’s death. This essay will examine Hamlet’s personality and principles alongside strenuous positions which prevent him from carrying out the vital task.

During the first stages of the play, Hamlet’s father (Hamlet senior) appears in the form of a ghost and tells Hamlet the true way in which his death came about. The ghost explains that his death was caused by poison being poured into his ear by his brother, Claudius. Matters become worse as Hamlet’s mother marries Claudius barely within a month of Hamlet senior’s death. The ghost of Hamlet senior compels Hamlet to avenge his murder by killing Claudius.

Initially, Hamlet has the intention to act upon his father’s word and avenge his death. This is shown in the play as Hamlet says “Haste me to know't that I with wings as swift may sweep to my revenge.” However soon enough Hamlet misses vital opportunities to take the life of Claudius as he is faced with his morals and conscience. Hamlet begins to doubt whether the ghost was bona fide and becomes unsure of the circumstances. Part of Hamlet’s delay is caught up in determining the authenticity of the Ghost before acting, he says “The spirit I have seen may be a devil.”

However, this cannot solely be the reason due to the fact that Hamlet later obtains his proof of Claudius’s guilt and still fails to act. His proof is obtained through the ‘play within a play’. One the main reasons is Hamlet’s inability to act and his tendency to think too much. Hamlet often talks to himself and at points he mentions that he would commit suicide to be closer to his father but it was forbidden by religious law. This shows that Hamlet has strict religious morals and acts upon them.

This is why Hamlet loses a perfect opportunity to ...

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This is why Hamlet loses a perfect opportunity to avenge his father’s death. Hamlet found Claudius praying later on in the play and stood behind him with a dagger in his hand ready to avenge the death of Hamlet senior. Hamlet uses the excuse that he does not want to kill him whilst doing a good deed as he would not want to send him to heaven. At the time however, Claudius was not really praying to God but rather finding his inability to feel guilt and sorrow and ask for forgiveness. Hamlet decides that it would be best to kill him while he is doing something against religion, while he drunk or asleep with his brother’s wife, who is now his wife. Although Hamlet has a valid reason, this merely seems like another delay tactic as he fails to make any sincere future plans to kill Claudius.

The most reasonable explanation to the delay is Hamlet’s own morals and ethics. His inability to act, and his tendency to think too much. At times Hamlet comes across as somewhat mad. The whole situation becomes like a huge burden, too for him to bear. The Ghost’s miraculous revelation alongside his mother’s sinful marriage all in the midst of mourning for his father’s death adds to his melancholic disposition.

His mother's remarriage was sinful according to canon law and was extremely irrational. It showed little though to the grieving and also implied that the relationship between his mother and Claudius may have been started before the death of Hamlet. This causes disposition within Hamlet and accounts for his lack of action and mad actions. Hamlet says to his mother “Have you not eyes? You cannot call it love. O shame! Where is thy blush?” To add to the mess, Hamlet’s relationship with his girlfriend, Ophelia, is in arrears. In his first soliloquy he says, “O that this too too solid flesh would melt.” Hence implying that the task of avenging his father’s death is too burdensome for already depressed Hamlet.

Additionally, Hamlet was a philosopher rather than a man of action. When Hamlet does act, he does something wrong and this could put him off such as Hamlet’s mistake of killing Polonius rather than Claudius. He admits his problem as he says (referring to himself) “think too precisely on the event.” He is intellectual and reflective, preferring to ponder rather than take action. However, this end in worse off circumstance rather than if he were to act.

Hamlet also delays killing the King because he is unsure of the morality of carrying out such a task. Revenge was prohibited by ecclesiastical law, but the duty of ‘personal honour’ was accepted during Elizabethan times. Hamlet’s inability to act was somewhere in the midst of these two contradicting laws. At this stage it is clear that Hamlet is having serious doubts about killing the King. After all, to kill an anointed King, even in an act of revenge, was considered a serious offence.

Furthermore, Hamlet in left between a moral dilemma while he confronts his mother. His father appears and orders Hamlet to stop confronting his mother when the ghost says ‘Leave her to heaven’. If we interpret heaven as being God then this would mean that God will deal with the sins of Hamlet’s mother. But surely, if it was up to God to deal with Hamlet’s mother then was it not up to God to deal with Claudius?

In conclusion, Hamlet delays in killing the King because of his own personal moral dilemmas alongside his psychological ethics; he is a philosopher and is of a melancholic disposition. External events in the play do not contribute to Hamlet's delay, but are rather used to Hamlet's advantage as excuses to further delay avenging his father's murder.