Hamlet's indecision and continuous delay of Claudius's murder until the end can be explained through several concepts of psychology, delving into his innermost thoughts which act as the driving forces behind his behavior, actions, and attitude towards other characters.
Despite being dead set on getting revenge for his father after he met 'his ghost' in Act I scene 4, Hamlet began contemplating suicide in his ‘to be or not to be’ soliloquy in Act 3, illustrating that the issue goes much deeper than his conscious thoughts. The murder of his father and his mother’s remarriage with his uncle, and ultimately death, are out of his control and make him feel helpless and subjected to his impending fate, which causes Hamlet to become obsessed with control. He tries to: (naively) plan everything out, define/make sense of his inner feelings/beliefs (by contemplating them in his several soliloquies), tell others what to do (telling Ophelia to go to a nunnery), etc, However, all of this effort is for naught in Act 3 scene 5 when an anxious Hamlet impulsively
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For example, Hamlet loses sight of his original goal and has to be reminded by the ghost in the scene where he confronts Gertrude in Act 3. Although, it can be argued that the ghost is actually a spirit because it was seen by others in Act 1 and tells Hamlet about his murder (information that he wouldn’t know otherwise), but it’s never clarified to actually be Hamlet’s father. More importantly, it specifically uses the term ‘incestuous’: “Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast..” (Act 1, scene 5) which is exclusively used by Hamlet in the play. The ghost also shares Hamlet’s anger and hatred towards Claudius and only appears to Hamlet in Act 3 scene 4, which indicates that it mostly took part in Hamlet’s head rather than in real