Revenge is the act of retaliation for an offense or injury caused to one person by another. It is the driving force in Shakespeare's passionate play Hamlet. It drives the behaviour of the lead character Hamlet, as he is taken over by the need for revenge for the murder of his father. Hamlet's action and lack of action in exacting his revenge have grievous results. Hamlet is not the only character who wants revenge, as Laertes and Fortinbras are also both seeking revenge for the death of their father's. Hamlet's method of exacting revenge can be compared and contrasted to the methods of Laertes and Fortinbras, however, Hamlet's method caused much unnecessary death, unlike the methods of Laertes and Fortinbras.
Hamlet's indecision and procrastination in exacting his revenge had grievous results. If Hamlet had been decisive and
"Why does Hamlet Delay the revenge""
Through out the play, Hamlet has many opportunities to avenge his father's death by murdering Claudius; however there was always something that give us the impression something is holding Hamlet back. There are many reasons as to why Hamlet might be delaying the revenge. It could be said that Hamlet fears the consequence of killing, or maybe he doubts the ghost, it could be said that Hamlet didn't want to hurt his mother Gertrude or maybe to the fact he is a renaissance prince and doesn't believe in violence.
One of Hamlet's many reasons as to why he delays the killing could be that he is afraid of the consequence as to what will come after killing. It could be said that Hamlet is quite religious seeing that he fears his fait if murdering Claudius during his prayer, "Now might I do it pat, now a is a-praying, and now I'll do't - and so goes to heaven, and am I reneged. That would be scanned. A villain kills my father, and for that, I his sole son do this same villain send to Heaven." This shows the audience that Hamlet is religious and that he fears the result of killing, Hamlet knows that if he kills Claudius while he prays, Claudius will go to heaven, and Hamlet will have to suffer the sin of killing.
Another reason as to why Hamlet delays the murder, could be that he doubts the ghost, Hamlet conducts a play which reenacts the murder of his father to observe Claudius' reaction to it, if Claudius becomes hesitant, Hamlet will know the ghost speaks the truth, "I'll have grounds more relative than this. The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king." Here Hamlet tells Horatio that the play he will be conducting is to show if Claudius is the murder, it also shows that Hamlet for minute did doubt the ghost.
Another reason as to why Hamlet postponed the revenge, could be that he didn't want to hurt his mother Gertrude, especially after his father warned him not to hurt her in any way "I will speak daggers to her but use non", this indicates Hamlets protection over his mother, he will "speak in daggers" talk to her with a sharp tone but "use non" to hurt his mother. It could be said that Hamlet didn't want to kill Claudius because he didn't want to see his mother suffer a loss of another loved one.
We could say that Hamlet delays the killing due to his religious beliefs. If he kills Claudius, Hamlet might have to suffer the consequence of murder, which might be that he could be damned to hell or suffer a torturous life walking the earth. It could be said this is a part of fear playing a big role on Hamlet. Risking his life to avenge his father's death might lead to serious consequence regarding himself.
Another reason as to why Hamlet delays the killing, could be that he might have been waiting for the right timing. He may have been planning the murder very precisely so that he doesn't get caught and suffer any consequences. It may be said that Hamlet is a renaissance Prince, and is not a violent person but more of a deep thinker, which may be the reason that delays him from the killing. His obstacle could be his deep and troubled thoughts, thinking and analyzing everything could have lead to the delay of the murder.
One could say that Hamlet delays the revenge due to fear and anxiety of getting caught and fears what the consequence of what might awaits him if he proceeds with the killing. However one may disagree and say that Hamlet delays the killing due to his troubled deep thoughts and by over analyzing everything he knows that what he is doing is a mistake, one may say that this shows Hamlet to be a deep poetic renaissance thinker who simply doesn't believe that violence handles ways.
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Hamlet, Shakespeare's most famous tragedy play is full of violence, vengeance and madness. As the Denmark prince seeks for revenge for his father, the play had showed us no admirable human relationships. In the play, the failure of the relationships between Hamlet and Ophelia, Ophelia and Polonius, and Hamlet and his two friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern had demonstrated the most unworthy relationships between lovers, families, and friends. By showing us those Hamlet with those inestimable human relationships, Shakespeare had make Hamlet become a literature of eternity because those relationships showed reality of collapse of human relationships which remained through out the centuries.
In the play, Hamlet's lover Ophelia turned mad and suicide in the end of play, which demonstrated the most pitiable relationship between lovers. The relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia had always been questioned by people, because the dramatically development of the relationship, yet none of the readers had doubt Hamlet's feeling toward Ophelia. In Act 2 scene 2, in Hamlet's letter to Ophelia he wrote "that I love thee best." This is the first time Hamlet admits his feeling for Ophelia in the play, yet after he became "mad", his speech and actions had lead to Ophelia's madness and pitiful death in the end of the play. In the play, the relationship between Ophelia and Hamlet is pathetic. After Hamlet cruelly killed Ophelia's father Polonius, and been sent to England, Ophelia became mad and suicides because her father's sudden death and Hamlet's subsequent exile. Ophelia's piteous end which was caused by her relationship with Hamlet made the readers realising the failure of lover relationships.
The relationship between Ophelia and her father in Hamlet had also showed the readers how wretched could the relationship between father and children became. In the play, Polonius had used Ophelia to spy on Hamlet; Ophelia's treatment from her father had showed us how Ophelia was used by her father as a tool instead of treated as a person. In Act 1. Scene 3, Polonius referred Ophelia as the "green girl" and describe her as "thinking as a baby." In order to get the truth about Hamlet's madness, he told Ophelia to "slander any moment leisure/as to give words or talk with Lord Hamlet." Ophelia became more pitiful, as she took her father as orders instead of advice where she replied "I shall obey, my lord." By display how Polonius manipulate Ophelia, Shakespeare showed the readers the fiasco relationship between family members.
Friendship is also become malicious in the play, where Hamlet indirectly killed his two betrayed friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. As Hamlet's two school friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are manipulated by all of the members of the royal family. Without knowing the content of the letter Claudius sent to King of England, they are used as a tool by Claudius to kill Hamlet. They had given their loyalty to Claudius, as they said they had given up themselves "in the full bent" (to Claudius), yet this also emphases they had betrayed Hamlet. Hamlet on the other hand had never truly valued his friendship with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as much as he valued his friendship with Horatio. Although he described Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as his "excellent good friends", he told his mother Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are like "adders fand'd." His merciless action of indirectly send Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to death had illustrated the crash of friendships.
In conclusion, through Shakespeare's tragedy play Hamlet, we as the readers saw only the failure of human relationships. Where relationships between lovers, families and friends been defamed by Shakespeare through his plot. With his demonstrations of the three most important human relationships Hamlet had leaded the reader in many critical thinking and forces the readers to revaluate the relationship in nowadays society.
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