Hamlet Procastinator

Hamlet procrastinator


Shakespeare’s masterpiece Hamlet tells us the story of a young man named Hamlet, whose father, King Hamlet, is murdered by his own brother, who also usurps his position as King by marrying his brother’s widow. Hamlet finds out about his uncle’s betrayal and decides to revenge his father’s death by killing King Claudius.
One of the basic elements of the plot in thisplay is Hamlet’s concerning about his moral duty of revenging his father’s death. Altruism, existentialism, religious values, and honor are all mixed in his reasoning, present in his conscience, which does not allow him to have any determination in his decision. Many critics have presented different approaches over this topic and two different positions are more heavily supported.
According tothe first of them, Hamlet’s delay in fulfilling his duty is due only to his desire to ensure that King Claudius will be condemned to the same fate as King Hamlet, but not before having complete certainty of his uncle’s guilt. This interpretation of the play asserts that Hamlet’s integrity guides him to avoid any chance of an unfair retaliation against his uncle. However, once he is completely sureof King Claudius guilt, he is so determined in his will to revenge that he rejects the opportunity of killing him while he is praying. Otherwise, King Claudius’s soul would receive salvation after his death and the revenge would remain incomplete.
The second major approach also relates Hamlet’s delay to his moral principles. According to this, hamlet is not the kind of man who gets easilyinvolved into violence. He truly believes that his father’s death must be revenged and that killing King Claudius would be nothing but an act of justice. Nevertheless, Hamlet lacks the courage to carry out such a task. He is an intellectual man who relies more on his reasoning and his conscience than on his instincts and, regarding this, he constantly tries to find apologies in order to delay hisrevenge again and again.
HAMLET’S SOLILOQUY AND CLAUDIUS’S PRAYER
There are several scenes in which Hamlet’s indetermination is reflected, mainly in those where the soliloquies take place. One of these scenes has particularly gotten the attention of the scholars due to what, for some of them, seems to be a series of irregularities in the play’s plot. This is the scene III of Act III, in whichHamlet runs into King Claudius while he is praying in such an unconcerned attitude about his environment, totally off guard, that he would be a very easy target if Hamlet decided to make his attack. Even though, Hamlet’s considerations take them into think that killing his uncle while he is praying would assure him the entrance to Heaven and eternal salvation since he is in “the purging of his soul”,cleansing his spirit. He says: “A villain kills my father; and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven. O, this is hire and salary, not revenge”.
In opposition to this, Hamlet thinks that his revenge will be complete only if, after his death, King Claudius is condemned to eternal damnation, as he believes his father was. As far as he knows, his father’s life was takenwhen he was sleeping, without having the opportunity to purify his soul through the sincere repentance of his sins. Hamlet says in his soliloquy: “He took my father grossly, full of bread; with all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May; and how his audit stands who knows save heaven?” To succeed in his purpose, Hamlet thinks that he has to get his victim in a sinful behavior, during a time in whichhis soul does not have any chance of salvation afterwards. “Up, sword; and know thou a more horrid hent: When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, or in the incestuous pleasure of his bed; at game, a-swearing, or about some act that has no relish of salvation in't”
Hamlet’s behavior in this scene and his thoughts reflected in his soliloquy reaffirm one element of his nature which is also...