Essay, Research Paper: Immaturity Delays Hamlet's Decisions

In Hamlet, the character of Hamlet is immature, and as a result indecisive. This is histragic flaw. Although Hamlet believes it is his duty to seek revenge against his uncle, he isunable to commit to this fate. Not only did waiting affect Hamlet s life, but it touchedeveryone around him. If Hamlet had been able to kill Claudius earlier, the lives of all theother characters would have been spared. How all occasions do inform against me, says Hamlet in Act 4, Scene 4. He is aware that he is delaying his actions yet he still does not take action. We see inHamlet s many soliloquies that he talks himself out of murdering his uncle. The perfectopportunity to exact his revenge arises with Claudius prayer scene. Hamlet is anintelligent man and is understandably having difficulty with the idea of committing amurder, but he truly has no other option. He cannot go to any higher authority and reportthe crime because that would be the King himself. He cannot simply walk away andpretend he knows nothing because that is not feasible, especially considering the love hehas for his late father. This is the moment everything goes wrong in Hamlet s scheme. Everything thereafter proceeds in a downward spiral. Almost immediately after Hamlet walks away from an undefended Claudiushe kills Polonius. This is the first unnecessary death. Hamlet killed the innocent Poloniusthinking he might be the king. As a result of her father s murder, Ophelia is driven toinsanity. She drowns soon thereafter. Because of Polonius and Ophelia s deaths, Laertes in anguish conspires with the king to get revenge against Hamlet. In the final scene he dies
at Hamlet s hand. Gertrude, too, dies as a result of the plot against Hamlet. And, finally,Hamlet dies as well. Had Hamlet been able to come to the realization that killing Claudiuswas a necessity, these five people would not have been killed. All are directly linked toHamlet s refusing to kill Claudius in prayer. Hamlet justifies to himself delaying his revenge. In Act 2, Scene 2, Hamletsays, "The spirit that I have seen, May be a devil, and the devil hath power, T' assume apleasing shape." He questions whether the ghost s words are true and so he must makecertain of the allegations before he commits treason. When he has the opportunity to killClaudius as he is kneeling in prayer, he decides against it saying that he will wait until theking is involved in sin, ensuring that he will go to hell rather than heaven. They are validarguments, but even after the prayer scene there are countless times thereafter whenHamlet could have acted. Hamlet does not act because he is not a man of action. Hisimmaturity prevents him from doing things. This is evident in the way he whines andwallows in self pity over his mother s marriage to his uncle. His world exists in his mind,where he argues and counter argues with himself. His justifications are excuses. It was not fear that stopped Hamlet from killing Claudius before the lastscene of the play. It was his indecisiveness, his tendency to think things over many times. Doing this he came up with many situations and reasons for him to wait for a later time. The result was multiple unessential deaths, including Hamlet s own. Had Hamlet beenable to see that this was a situation that required quick action, such a tragic ending couldhave been avoided.