Literature Is the Question Minus the Answer Essays

Hamlet had the opportunity to kill Claudius at the chapel but restrained himself, he believed it was too good of a death for Claudius and that if he were killed his sins would be forgiven. This shows his lack of action and proves he is a procrastinator. In his soliloquies he constantly criticizes himself for the obvious avoidance of responsibility saying, "Am I a coward? Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across? Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face? Tweaks me by the nose? gives me the lie i' the throat, as deep as to the lungs? who does me this?" (Act 2 Sc. 2, 571-575)

Hamlet’s main difficulty throughout the play lies in his inability to complete his mission of killing Claudius. He frequently circumvents his problems and refuses to find the resolution of the problems. He stubbornly sticks to his paradigm, but this simply leave him in disarray. By not rising out of mediocrity, Hamlet leads to his imminent death. Although his father’s ghost brings solemn and portentous warnings, the prince’s forbearance to kill the king constitutes his failure to act. For example, when he finds Claudius praying, he does not kill him, however, while Claudius may act devout, he cannot pray due to his sins. Had Hamlet cogently dispatched of him, he would not have completed his pious action anyway. Hamlet may seem pithy in his

He resembles a man tossed in a raging sea of external and internal ills who meets his demise trying to correct them. Hamlet is trapped inside himself, imprisoned by the words within his head that contribute to his emotional instability, as he surrenders to his obsessive thoughts and states “…there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so (ii.ii.233).” Hamlet’s angst becomes most apparent when he procrastinates. Procrastination is the inaction that guides Hamlet to his ruin and underneath this inaction there are two primary mistakes: being too perfectionistic and being over analytical. In mourning his father's decease, Hamlet individually chooses to remain melancholy for what many consider to be an excessive amount of time: “But to persever in obstinate condolement is a course of impious stubbornness (i.ii.99).” Hamlet’s perfectionism halts him from avenging his father’s death, when he has the opportunity to kill Claudius when he is praying. “Am I then revenged to take him in the purging of his soul, when he is fit and seasoned for his passage? No. Up sword, and know thou a more horrid hent (iii.iii.89).” Hamlet wants an ideal revenge, which consists of the antagonist suffering damnation; however, since Claudius is praying, Hamlet cannot tolerate to murder him because he believes Claudius’s soul will be purified and enter heaven instead; thus, Hamlet decides to kill Claudius at a more

After King Hamlet’s death, Hamlet feels hatred bottled-up inside him, and he is getting to the point where he would unleash this wrath of hatred onto King Claudius. To demonstrate how great his hate towards King Claudius is, Hamlet convinced himself to commit the premeditated murder of Claudius. However, the inspiration of Pyrrhus’ revenge is still not great enough to give Hamlet a good reason to kill Claudius right away. At this point, Hamlet is hesitant of what to do next because he does not have enough evidence to kill Claudius and if he does succeed in killing Claudius, he will disgrace his mother to the nation. Hamlet. Hamlet shows how great he values revenge was when he says, “Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell” (2.2. 613) to

In this theory, the reason why Hamlet delays is because of his Oedipus complex: Hamlet is similar to Claudius’s character and is obsessed with his mother’s sexuality (Act 3, sc. 4, ll. 93-98, p.175). The second reason, by Goette, said that Hamlet is too sensitive to commit murder. Another reason is from Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who believes that Hamlet overthinks the

Hamlet is ready to confront the paradoxical truth that to avenge the death of his father he should commit the same Act seeking revenge. Using the destination as a scapegoat, Hamlet can distance themselves from the Act of killing Claudius. Hamlet has reached the climax of his philosophizing; he has prepared for death.

The concept of revenge is one notion that consistently appears to stand the test of time. From The Iliad to True Grit, a tale of revenge seems to ring true no matter the generation or language. A consistent occurrence within these stories is the downfall of the one that seeks revenge. It always appears that, despite one's goals for revenge, one only makes things worse for themselves. In Hamlet, Claudius is one character that exemplifies the concept of failed revenge. He acts as a dramatisation of the deep philosophical and ethical issues that encompass barbarous murder, prepense revenge, and thwarted desire. Throughout the events of the play, Claudius seeks multiple acts of revenge, yet it all begins with his murderous desire to avenge what he believes should have been his birthright; the throne. Through the consistent fluctuations in the conscious of King Claudius, the progressive wantonness of his soul is showcased, and bears witness to the idea that desire can drive even the formally virtuous to extreme acts of savagery.

The morals of the afterlife, derived from Hamlet’s intellectual thinking, poses an obstacle to killing Claudius. However, with such brutal crime, revenge should be something ruthless and without boundaries. Hamlet is yet again buying some time.

William Shakespeare's “Hamlet”, through the bravery and nobleness of its hero, the high level of knowledge and reflection upon the protagonist’s situation, and his capability to suffer the tragedies that occur in his life, is considered one of the greatest pieces of literature ever written. Hamlet's heroism and nobility displayed throughout most of the play, classify Hamlet as a tragedy that is the foreground of numerous pieces of literature and media in our society today. There have been more than enough novels published about this historical play and its themes. What is it actually with Hamlet that has grasped the attention of readers’ all over the world? The great uncertainty of the plot and its characters are just a start. The reason that

During this time, it can be seen that Hamlet is still quite logical because of his efforts in trying to comprehend the situation at hand. However, after King Claudius’ extravagant reaction to the play’s murder scene, proving that he is the murderer, Hamlet goes mad, leading him to act impulsively. When given the four commands, Hamlet appeared to fully understand all of his duties, but soon after figuring out that King Claudius is truly the perpetrator, Hamlet adjusts his focus towards the first command that asks him to avenge his father’s death. “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (page 1823). Hamlet is very committed in obtaining his vengeance, which soon becomes the only objective he had in his mind. He was willing to leave his education in studying philosophy behind to achieve this goal and was even willing to die as long as he was able to get his revenge for his father. Hamlet was ready to die for what come because he believes in God, but lacked the understanding of King Hamlet’s directions.

Eliot describes Hamlet as “almost certainly an aesthetic failure.” (Selected 141) Despite referring to himself as one of the critics who “have […] admitted that Hamlet the play is primary problem and Hamlet the character only secondary,” (Ibid) he could not avoid implying that Hamlet’s problem is central to the aesthetic question in the play. Eliot depicts Hamlet as “dominated by an emotion which is inexpressible because it is in excess of the facts as they appear.” (145) This outdated view brings to the fore the major aspects of “the Hamlet problem”. At the center of this problem is the question of

At the beginning of Hamlet, Hamlet gets a visit from the ghost of his dead father informing him that his brother Claudius was the one who killed him. He gives Hamlet the duty of killing Claudius in revenge and Hamlet agrees to do so. The task seems easy at first but as the play advances, Hamlet finds it tough to complete such a cruel task. I found it interesting how Hamlet’s hesitation to kill Claudius and get revenge for his father’s death drives him mad and ultimately causes the death of many innocent people, including himself.

Hamlet’s revenge becomes more complex as his plans have to change as his original plans failed. Originally, Hamlet’s plan for revenge was “The play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king”, however, when Claudius did not announce that he was a murder, Hamlet plan for revenge had to change. Later, in Act 3, Scene 3 Hamlet catches Claudius alone praying, however, as revealed in his soliloquy “Why, this is hire and salary, not revenge” Hamlet does not think that killing Claudius whilst he is praying is proper reimbursement for the crime Claudius committed, “A villain kills my father, and for that, I his sole son do this villain send to heaven”. Act 5, Scene 5, is the end of the play where Hamlet finally takes his revenge, as he finally has trustworthy evidence that Claudius is a murderer, “Thy mother’s poisoned...the king, the king’s to blame”. Furthermore, witnesses to Claudius deed would support that Hamlet’s revenge was righteous. Therefore, Hamlet’s uncertainty in taking revenge leads to Hamlet being one of Shakespeare’s longest plays, thus showing the complex nature of revenge.

And so he goes to heaven; and so I am revenged. That would be scanned…” (3,3 79 - 80) and chooses to wait for a better time and send Claudius to Purgatory, effectively drawing out the story and the murderer’s life. These thoughts support that Shakespeare prefers thoughts to actions as he has Hamlet stop and think about where Claudius would go then refusing, effectively drawing out the story rather than ending the conflict right there.

Hamlet becomes angry with himself for procrastinating, and failing to take revenge for his father's death. When Hamlet?s family is trying to figure out why he is acting this way actors come to present a play. Hamlet then asks them if he writes up a few lines to add into the play if they could act them out. Hamlet wants them to do this to be able to see King Claudius reaction. If King Claudius reacts badly to the reenactment of the murder of his father then Hamlet will know that it was King Claudius who committed this crime. Critics have also brought out the point that he is very passionate about keeping his morals. This was also a result in Hamlet taking so long to kill King Claudius.