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Hamlet's Delay In Killing Claudius Analysis

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Hamlet Final Essay
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, follows Prince Hamlet who has been tried with the troubling task of seeking revenge for his father’s death. The person that Hamlet must kill in order to achieve vengeance is his uncle, Claudius. Many have wondered why Hamlet hesitates to kill his uncle in order to complete his task and that is the topic of discussion within this essay. Probable explanations for Hamlet’s delay are: his desire to remain in touch with his religion and morals; his need to know the validity of Claudius’ guilt; and his personal indecisiveness and overthinking.
The first probable reason for Hamlet’s delay in killing Claudius is that Hamlet wants to follow his religious beliefs and morals. Evidence of Hamlet’s religious …show more content…

Hamlet wants to believe that the ghost was actually his father, but he begins to fear that it was an evil spirit trying to lead him away from his beliefs. “The spirit that I have seen may be a devil...abuses to damn me,” (2.2.610-614). This questioning leads to Hamlet wondering if Claudius really is guilty or if it is just the evil force trying to convince him to commit a sin. In order to prove Claudius’ guilt, Hamlet asks an acting troupe to perform a modified play in order to get a designed reaction, “I’ll have these players play something like the murder of my father before mine uncle, I’ll observe his looks...the play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King,” (2.2.606-617). Hamlet chose the play “The Murder of Gonzago” and made alterations to the script in order to draw a specific response from Claudius. During the performance, Hamlet and Horatio kept a close eye on Claudius to see if he reacted to the play in any way. After seeing Claudius respond abruptly to the performance, Hamlet saw the accuracy of the ghost’s claims, “[took] the ghost’s word for a thousand pound” and went forward with his task

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