Hamlet’s character is initially one of procrastination and he does not act or plan his revenge until he learns, whilst on his way to England that Claudius is plotting against him. He then starts to plot his revenge and thus the ‘play within a play’ emerges.
However Hamlet could be using that as an excuse not to kill because subconsciously he feels that Claudius is the man that he would like to be. The Oedipus complex suggests that Hamlet, or every man, would like to kill their father and sleep with their mother. Claudius has done both of these and if Hamlet does kill him; he will be condemning himself. Another awareness that might prevent Hamlet from acting is the fact that the Ghost tells Hamlet to “leave her to heaven”, ‘her’ being Gertrude. Why shouldn’t Hamlet act on Gertrude if she too committed the same crime as Claudius? Maybe Hamlet should also ‘leave Claudius to heaven’.
Arguably, Hamlet’s delay is because Shakespeare has to fulfill Hamlet’s role as the ‘tragic hero’. If Hamlet had killed Claudius when he had the chance, an example being in Act III scene III, the play would have been two acts shorter; thereby not satisfying its Elizabethan audience as a ‘tragedy’. As well we labeling ‘Hamlet’ as a revenge tragedy, by delaying the revenge we are slowly beginning to see another part of Hamlet submerge; and that is his role as the ‘revenger’.
When we first see Hamlet in Act I scene ii he is mourning over the death of his father. He is melancholic and yearns for revenge but is too passive. His main role as we can see from his soliloquies is ‘malcontent’. His soliloquies show us his morally weak, dejected character for in Act III scene i Hamlet talks about suicide as an alternative to avenging his father. He thinks that “by a sleep we end the heartache”. Previously Hamlet has mentioned to Gertrude and Claudius in Act I scene ii that the “Everlasting had not fix’d his canon ‘gainst self-slaughter!”. But as the play progresses we begin to see Hamlet change from a man of contemplation to a man of action. Therefore it is Shakespeare’s intention that Hamlet delays as a part of his character and in order for him to find his role. A sign of Hamlet finding his ‘active’ role is when he says “I need to be my own person and find my own way. My way may be wrong, but at least it will be mine”.
Although his deference is seen by a contemporary audience as frustration, on the other hand, an Elizabethan audience would have seen it as a tragic flaw which makes Hamlet the ‘tragic hero’. Shakespeare may have also used the delay to divert us from the actual revenge but to focus on Hamlet instead. The delay allows us to concentrate on Hamlet’s actions and reasons rather than the revenge itself. Therefore is ‘revenge’ really the main theme? Perhaps Hamlet’s role change and consequence is what Shakespeare would like us to see. Although this is so, Shakespeare fails to remind us that Hamlet is a character in a play and does not exist in the physical world; Hamlet’s existence is dependant on his actions and reactions to characters and events in the play.
I believe that it is Shakespeare’s intentions for us to see Hamlet’s role change before acting and to understand the play more which led to the deliberate delay. However I also think that we must constantly remind ourselves that Hamlet is after all fictional and has specific roles to fulfill. In the first three acts of the play we can see from his soliloquies that Hamlet is juggling a role of three characters-the revenger, malcontent and cowardice. This contributes to Hamlet’s procrastination. Therefore Hamlet’s nature plays a major part in his decision whether or not to kill Claudius. After Hamlet has found his role as the ‘revenger’, which was the purpose of the delay, he does not have any more doubts about his other roles as the ‘coward’ or ‘malcontent philosopher’ as shown through immediate planning and action. This is shown by his less ambiguous speech and the use of prose.
Hamlet’s plot for revenge begins when he returns from England. Although Hamlet adopted his ‘antic disposition’ by Act II to supposedly divert attention despite the fact that it created the opposite affect, Hamlet only starts plotting his revenge in Act V. From this act on we see another side of Hamlet. A Hamlet of decisions, shrewdness and action. His plotting of the ‘The Mousetrap’ and his challenge to Laertes proves this.
The consequence of Hamlet’s set up of the play ‘The Mousetrap’ is the death of Claudius, Gertrude, Laertes and Hamlet himself. Shakespeare would like us to see that after Hamlet’s role is no longer one of ‘malcontent’ but of ‘revenge’, the speed of the play begins to quicken. The change begins when Hamlet returns from England. The roles of other characters have also switched. Claudius has changed from a man of malevolence and confidence to one of fear for his life and Laertes has also switched to a man of revenge.
All the characters, especially Hamlet have specific roles to fulfill which make up the play. Without each character carrying out their function and acting or reacting a certain way , perhaps Hamlet would not have taken so long to kill Claudius and maybe the play would have been only three acts instead of five. However all these reactions make up ‘Hamlet’ and therefore every action, response, excuse or delay serves their purpose to this tragic play.
Furthermore I believe that Shakespeare has made his apparent delay obvious for us because it not only makes us concentrate more on Hamlet’s transformation of character and role but also makes us more aware of the consequences of the ‘revenge’, whether it is the main theme or not, as a whole.
