Why Does Hamlet Delay?

The first 200 words of this essay...

WHY DOES HAMLET DELAY?

Is it possible to take reasonable, effective and purposeful action? In Hamlet, the question of how to act is affected not only by logical considerations, such as the need for certainty, but also by emotional, ethical, and psychological factors. This in turn affects how the revenge is carried out.

If we view Hamlet as a 'real' person in the context of Elsinore then one of the reasons why Hamlet delays taking revenge on Claudius may be because he needs to test the veracity of the Ghost. The Ghost tells Hamlet of his murder and demands revenge when he says "Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder" in Act I scene iv. Hamlet's initial reaction is to act quickly,

"Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift

As meditation or the thoughts of love,

May sweep to my revenge"

(I.4.33-35)

whether it may be because he disapproves of Claudius marrying his mother or through a sense of duty and obligation. However by Act II scene i he expresses his feelings of doubt about the Ghost: "the spirit I may