Hamlet's inaction is a major topic of debate, and many scholars have written papers about it. Hamlet is given many opportunities ,throughout the play, to kill Claudius, and avenge his father. Why he waits four acts to do so is often questioned. George S. Tubbes may have put it best when he stated that it would have ended the play relatively early on if Hamlet had acted naturally and killed Claudius immediately. This seemingly obvious observation is actually right on target. If Hamlet had killed Claudius right after he spoke to his father the play would have ended at the beginning of Act II and Shakespeare's longes

The play scene is the moment when Hamlet confirms that Claudius had killed his father, as well as the scene where Hamlet's caution switches over to hesitation. Before this scene it is very well possible that Hamlet doesn't believe the ghost. Hamlet himself says to Horatio in Act II scene ii "Observe my uncle. If his occulted guilt Do not itself unkennel in one speech, It is a damned ghost we have seen" (P.141). During the play Claudius has the play stopped after the murder scene and he runs off. Hamlet taking this as proof of Claudius' guilt. From this moment onward Hamlet hesitates in killing the king, and therefore does not act "naturally". Stubbes believed that acting naturally in response to learning of your father's murder was to kill the perpetrator immediately. Since Hamlet was "represented as a youth so brave, and so careless of life" (Stubbes, P.77) there is no reason ,besides confirming the ghost's story, not to kill Claudius. After the play scene two scenes in which Hamlet's inaction are shown are the Chapel scene and the scene with Fortinbras' army.

Where Laertes is a foil to Hamlet's hesitation Ophelia is the foil to his madness. Angela Pitt wrote that Ophelia was a weak sketchy character who couldn't cope with the loss of her father and of her lover. I have to agree with Pitt because we can all watch the downfall of Ophelia piece by piece. Polonius is killed in Act III and Hamlet leaves in Act IV. During this time period Ophelia looses all the men in her life. In Act I Polonius tells Ophelia not to "slander any moment leisure As to give words or talk with Lord Hamlet." (Act I,iv P.49) This forbidding of Ophelia from seeing Hamlet sets up her fall when Hamlet rejects her later on. Later in that same scene Laertes ,her brother, leaves for Paris. Later in the "Get thee to a nunnery speech" Hamlet tells her that he never loved her. This is a massive emotional loss for Ophelia , for she has lost her lover. Soon after her father is killed by Hamlet leaving her alone without a father or a lover. She has only a brother left and he's in Paris. When Hamlet leaves for England she is truly alone and she can't handle his loss. Laertes return to late to save her from total madness. Ophelia is reduced to wandering the castle singing gibberish and talking madness. Laertes can't save her in time and she drowns chanting "snatches of old lauds, as one incapable of her own distress" (Act IV,vii P.235). Ophelia was forced to madness from grief and loneliness much like Ms. Pitt stated in her essay.

While Hamlet is pretending to be mad to Polonius he manages to work in a flurry of insulting puns which would not have been possible if he were sane. These indirect insults and puns such as "Slanders ,sir: for the satirical rouge says here that old men have gray beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and plum-tree gum and that they have a plentiful lack of wit, together with the most weak hams" (Act II ,ii P.95) This was said to Polonius by Hamlet when questioned by him as to what he was reading. Hamlet makes fun of the old bearded man in the quote calling him foolish and weak. Polonius picks up on Hamlet's fake madness saying "Though this be madness, yet there is method in't" (Act II ,ii P.95). It is clear that hamlet was only faking his madnes

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2219
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)