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Why does Hamlet delay so long in following the ghost's command? (Essay Sample)

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Paper 4: Suggested Topics on Hamlet NOTE: These topics are stated in general terms; you are expected to refine and focus your topic so that your thesis asserts a clear, concise interpretation which you can support in a paper of about 1200 to 1500 words (4-5pages). Remember, your evidence must come from the play itself. (For more topics, see the class handout oftopics on Hamletand the topics suggestedin Dr. Jabbar’s book.) 1. Why does Hamlet delay so long in following the ghost’s command? Consider the way a combination of factors contribute to the cause for his delay. Then explore the theme or themes suggested by your interpretation of his delay. 2. To what extent is this a play about military issues? Pick out military references and relate them to the central dramatic question about Hamlet’s dilemma. How does attention to the military elements in the play help to enrich its central meaning? Relate your conclusions to the play’s overall meaning (theme). 3. How do the parallels in the circumstances of Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras help us understand the play’s central conflict and its overall meaning? Consider both similarities and differences in reaching your interpretation. Relate your conclusions to the play’s overall meaning (theme). 4. Compare and contrast Hamlet’s feigned madness with Ophelia’s real madness. What ideas about madness (insanity) does Shakespeare want us to think about? Relate your conclusions to the play’s overall meaning (theme). 5. What strong and weak personality traits do you find in Ophelia? Be sure to define what you mean by strong and weak, and why you feel your definitions are valid. Then use specific evidence from the play to support your opinion of Ophelia’s weaknesses and strengths. Finally, relate Ophelia’s inner conflict with the rest of the play. How does Ophelia’s story add to the meaning of the play as a whole? 6. How guilty is Gertrude? What has she done that is morally wrong? Be sure to explain how you inferred the moral code that Shakespeare seems to be using. Don’t just trust what Hamlet accuses Gertrude of in the bedroom scene. After analyzing her relative guilt and innocence, relate your conclusion to the central theme of the play as a whole. How does Gertrude’s internal conflict add meaning to the rest of the play? 7. Pick out the particularly sexists lines in Hamletin reference to Gertrude and Ophelia. After thinking about the context in which Shakespeare puts them (for example, Hamlet’s state of mind or the personality of Polonius), write a paper agreeing or disagreeing with the charge that Shakespeare, in the play Hamlet, reveals himself to be a male chauvinist who had a low opinion of women’ s worth. 8. What is the importance of Horatio in the play? Do you agree with Harold Bloomthat we would not be able to relate to the character of Hamlet, to admire or “love” him, if Horatio “our representative,” was not in the play? How does Horatio enable Shakespeare to create a play that is both effective theatrical entertainment and a workof art with meaning? After considering all of Horatio’s lines, select some of the most important ones to discuss in support of your conclusions. 9. How do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern help Shakespeare (1) to create dramatic and comic situations while advancing the plot, and (2) develop one or more of the play’s central themes? 10. Explore the aspects of Hamletthat focus on the dramatic arts (acting, staging, playing roles) both in literal ways and figurative ways. Literally, for example, the players are at the castle to put on a play, which Hamlet takes great interest in and talks about, even writing lines to include in their production. Figuratively, for example, Hamlet acts mad, Claudius acts innocent, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern act sincere, etc. Relate your conclusions to the play’s overall meaning (theme).

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Why does Hamlet delay so long in following the ghost's command?
Introduction
The ghost had given him a hard errand. He tried going, resolving and terminating the difficult tasks. He was still faithful and wanted to go. He however had to think about the situation under which he was being expected to act. Just before he could start working, a new speculation did arise that needed a new refinement (Edwards 16). After splitting the straw, he had to come up with serious thoughts that could make it possible for him realize the true ambitions in the different tasks ahead. He could come up with different aspects of the challenging situations so that he gets excuses for not carrying out the tasks ahead. He kept wishing that the task ahead was an accident because then could be easy for him to execute it. He had to wait until the king could dome up with the right guidance that could make it possible for him to carry out the task ahead. I strongly believe that Hamlet aimed at weighing out the different outcomes that could arise from the ghost’s command.
The fine sophistries regarding the outcomes for finishing the king can be related to his conscience because his reaction could be considered to be a sin. He finally did not carry out the killing but he however gets killed. The catastrophe is not fulfilled but somehow it is carried out through Hamlet.
Hamlet hesitated due to the consideration on ancient Greek’s or Roman’s revenging tragedies. The Ghost’s commandment of killing the king and sparing the queen was not possible. He had difficulties in being angered to punish the murder (Bate & Eric 80). The compassion of sparing incest and he delays the killings for the innocent people because of the instructions that he had been given. The being poised to death edges causes a number of high illuminating times which he shared with the audience within the soliloquies and he is extending the self educating crisis. He aims at being totally sure of Claudius’ lack of innocence. After getting the required proof, Claudius is arrested by Hamlet and he is whisked to another country.
Hamlet takes sometime in being courageous in committing the regicide one on one (Bate & Eric 81). After trying his impulsivity he ends up killing the wrong persons. Hamlet was out to revenge by retaliating on someone. The lack of forethought in stopping the killing of his ghost made him think of ways of retaliating on other people. It was for this reason that he decided to commit the murders on the innocent people (Thompson 64). His mind and heart was out to make sure that he killed someone in revenge and he miscalculated by not executing the initial kill as he had planned. The innocent ones happened to fall as victims that he decided to terminate their live. The proximity that he had to them as compared to the ghost is what largely contributed to the death of the innocent ones. If he could have executed the murder as he had initially planned then his anger could have been on the right person.
Why does he hesitate?
Hamlet was committed to avenging his father’s death under Claudius, the uncle after he had married the mother and usurped the Denmark’s throne (Hibbard 84). He was not able to execute the murder because of being undecided and this ended up being disastrous. After sometime he had the opportunity of shaping the revenge. He was noted saying that the villain who had killed his father should not see the doors of heaven (Spencer 37). He felt that by killing Claudius through prayer, Claudius could end up in heaven and the eternal salvation could be ensured. He however hoped that Claudius could be damned eternally. By killing him he could do him a big eternal favor and he considered it to be a hiring or an incentive but not revenge. On a second thought, Hamlet was of the opinion that the murder that he was to execute on the Claudius was to be of benefit to him even after being the bad person that he was.
Hamlet believed that the murder that he was to execute was an eternal sin to him and this could help the killed one to see the doors of heaven. He was looking for the best ways of carrying out the revenge so that it could not give the ghost an advantage after death. He had always been weighing the better options for executing the murder because such could not give him an advantage (Keyishian 72). The time to think was so long that he could not execute his intended plans and this is why he decided to wait before he could come up with the best solution. The murder that he was to execute could worsen his position because he was to live with the sin till eternity.
What does he say in some of his speeches that tell why one hesitates in the face of action?
From time to time he could question himself on whether to execute suicide that could terminate his painful experience. He was undecided on being or not being. At many times he could be afraid of what was to happen after his death (Hoy 79). He would say that he was not ready to bear the ills of this world after death. Such utterances were indications that he knew the repercussions of his revenge to the ghost and such consequences were to repeat for the rest of his life (Kermode 62). By believing in life after death, what he was to execute was to haunt him until eternity and he therefore did not want to carryout a revenge that would neg...
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