Hamlets Tragic Irresolution

Hamlet is one of Shakespeare's greatest works and one of the greatest tragedies ever composed. What makes Hamlet so unique is that Hamlet himself constantly delays the act of revenge against Claudius. Some reasons as to why Hamlet delays are: his natural scholarly and philosophic persona, his anger at his mothers' marriage and various fears and doubts concerning the ghost and the afterlife. The character Hamlet can easily be considered a "tragic hero"; his "tragic flaw" is that his philosophical and poetic personality makes him indecisive and as a result Hamlet delays in carrying out his revenge.

Hamlet is a natural born scholar and philosopher. He excels in matters that require cognitive function rather than physical being. This is contrary to his fathers' personality that can be perceived as more action oriented; King Hamlet says that if Hamlet truly is a loving son he will avenge him "revenge his foul and most unnatural murder" and remove incest from the royal bed. (Act 1 scene 5) Hamlet likely feels very pressured by his fathers ominous request but nevertheless agrees saying: "Ay, thou poor Ghost, while memory holds a seat In this distracted globe. Remember thee! Yea, from the table of my memory I'll wipe away all trivial fond records" Hamlet not only agrees but decides to wipe away all former memories and think of nothing else. In short, Hamlet is saying that he will put away his logic and reasoning and carry out the final wish of his dead father without delay. This would all be well and good but for the fact that Hamlet is not a man of action. Hamlet is a scholar and a natural philosopher; individuals with traits like these are not hardwired to accept ideas as they come and act without thought, they are born to question and ponder. Unfortunately for Hamlet these traits lead to his downfall - the frustration he has with himself for not being a man of action manifests into self-hatred and intense helplessness. In his seconded soliloquy Hamlet calls himself a 'dull and muddy-mettled rascal' and 'rogue and peasant slave' who will take no action despite the circumstances. He wonders what the actor would have done had he actually been in Hamlets situation; Hamlet says he would 'drown the stage in tears'. Hamlet calls himself a villain and a coward because he does not 'cleave the general ear with horrid speech' or 'make mad the guilty and appeal the free'. He hurls insults at himself and believes he is a 'pigeon-liver'd' coward, lacking 'gall', because he does not do anything about the 'bloody, bawdy villain', Claudius. He wants revenge on his 'remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless' uncle' but instead he just wallows about his own inaction. Hamlets harsh judgment of himself manifests in the form of self-hatred that slows him down and causes him to spend time wallowing about his own existence ("that the Everlasting had not fixed/ His canon against self-slaughter" (1.2.137-138) instead of taking action against Claudius. Hamlet identifies his own indecisiveness in the popular, third soliloquy saying 'To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer
The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles'. Hamlet becomes lost in this painful introspection and he wonders weather it is better to live or die. Death at first seems like the preferable option until he begins to question if he could really escape his dreams in death. Hamlets resolution to become a man of action backfires because this persona is simply not in his nature to wear; as a result Hamlet looses all sense of identity and walks the line between insanity and sanity. Hamlet is a scholar and philosopher not a fighter and because of this Hamlet delays and delays until it is nearly too late and many lives are lost.

Hamlet is more frustrated with his mothers' marriage to Claudius then his fathers' death. Although Hamlet is deeply angered by his fathers arranged murder, the betrayal is made even worse by the incestuous marriage of Claudius and Gertrude. Hamlets anger with her begins because he feels she finished grieving King Hamlet's death too soon when she agreed to marry Claudius "A little month, or ere those shoes were old/With which she followed my poor father's body/Like Niobe, all tears/Why she, even she-- /O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason would have mourned longer!" Hamlets anger and torment was going strong long before he suspected Claudius to have killed his father -- before Hamlets interaction with the ghost, Hamlet had not expressed a very a strong suspicion that his father was murdered: "With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! It is not, nor it cannot come to good. / But break my heart, for I must hold my tongue." (1.2 . 157-9) In this quote it is implied that Hamlets heart broke and his sorrows began when his mother married. In Act three scene 4 Hamlet is talking with his mother about her relationship with Claudius. He makes many sexual allusions that he uses to frighten and shame his mother (3.4.14) (3.4.23) and he put hands on her saying, "Nay then, I'll set those to you that can speak." (Act 3; Scene 4) and "Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge." (Act 3; Scene 4) Attacks that are sexual in nature are about power and control not lust and Hamlets case is no different. Hamlet wishes to control his mother because he wants her marriage to end and his behavior is driven purely by rage. The attack on Gertrude proves that Hamlet is far angrier at her marriage than his fathers' death because he attacked Gertrude not Claudius. Had his anger been projected at Claudius on a physical level as it had been with Gertrude it would have proved that Hamlet was purely after revenge. Hamlet is delayed in killing Claudius because his desire for revenge is trumped only by his deeply