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Debating His Father's Delay In Hamlet By William Shakespeare

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The two sides of Hamlet’s delay seems to be based around his resolution to kill his stepfather. First, Hamlet’s delays seem justified as due process in proving his stepfather’s guilt. Hamlet uses the play to expose his stepfather’s guilt by showing him the exact way he committed the murder. While effectively proving the certainty of Claudius’s guilt, the play seems to be a gratuitous form of proving this. Second, Hamlet’s delaying may simply be his lack of resolution in killing his father. Throughout the play, Hamlet’s delays seem to be necessary for the murder, however, the actions make more sense if Hamlet does not want to commit the murder at all. Yet, when committing the murder in the end it seems that the deaths of his mother, his father and soon himself(because he is poisoned) push him to kill because it provides more reasons for killing Claudius and eliminates almost all negatives.
All of the thematic theater references and symbols point to the difference between what is real and what is …show more content…

With this in mind it is easy to see how often the characters themselves mention the effects of and outcomes of fate. Horatio describes his view of fate in saying "And prologue to the omen coming on, Have heaven and earth together demonstrated Unto our climatures and countrymen." In seeing the ghost, Horatio is afraid it will warn them of something evil that has or will happen in the kingdom. Furthermore, this belief in fate gives Horatio the ability to let go of the plot and his life because it is out of his control. This similarly applies to Hamlet. Hamlet convinces himself to be complacent in his plans to kill the king and allows fate take control of his plot to murder the king. Hamlet’s open attitude to fate is only introduced after his indecisiveness is thoroughly played through. Which means that Hamlet 's inaction is a deference to fate rather than admittance that fate is the governing body of all mortal

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