William Shakespeare s Hamlet - 1116 Words

Teresa Fang Professor Moore Humanities 310 28 October 2015 To Seek Revenge or to Wait? Hamlet is a very enigmatic fellow. In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the theme of revenge is presented as a controversial one. Before the play was set, Prince Hamlet’s uncle and new stepfather, King Claudius, had taken part in the assassination of his brother, old King Hamlet. Old King Hamlet died without a chance to receive forgiveness for his sins. As a result, his spirit is condemned to walk the earth at night and spend the day in purgatory until his sins are finally purged. Perhaps the single most interesting and debatable question about Prince Hamlet is â€Å"why does it take so long for him to get his revenge?† Among all of the opinions,†¦show more content†¦In other words, he is uncertain whether the Ghost is really his father. Hamlet states in one of his soliloquies, â€Å"I have heard, that guilty creatures sitting at a play, have, by the very cunning of the scene, been struck so to the soul that presently, they have procla imed their malefactions† (Act II, Scene 2, Lines 574-578). By setting up The Mousetrap, the play within a play, Hamlet plans to test both the King and the Ghost, stating in the same soliloquy, â€Å"I’ll have grounds more relative than this. The play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King† (Act II, Scene 2, Lines 589-591). All in all, the Ghost’s claim proves to be true. This motivates Hamlet to go through with the revenge, although at first he was uncertain whether killing Claudius was the right thing to do. He is not the type to act impulsively, knowing that if he kills Claudius and it turns out that Claudius is innocent, Hamlet would have committed a crime against God, let alone the entire kingdom of Denmark. Hamlet’s love for his mother is another reason as to why his revenge is delayed. Despite Gertrude’s betrayal in which she hastily married Claudius soon after King Hamlet’s death, Hamlet did not want to deprive her mother of the man she loves by killing Claudius before he discovered the truth, hence, he confronted her first. In this scene, Gertrude accuses Hamlet of being crazy, stating â€Å"This the very coinage of your brain. This bodiless creation ecstasy is