Hamlet's Melancholy Nature example essay topic

Hamlet, one of Shakespeare's most famous plays, is well known because it is very relevant to people's everyday lives. Many people can condole with Hamlet's struggles. Throughout the play, Hamlet has a constant struggle with his peace-loving nature and his will to kill the king. He is unable to act hastily to avenge his father's death because of his woeful personality, his concern with honour, and his caring nature. Hamlet's sensitivity delays the avenging of his father because of his melancholy nature. He feels there is too much to burden on his conquest to revenge.

Overwhelmed with his mother's marriage to Claudius and her disregard to his father's death, Hamlet feels that he is trap in a little cage; shown when he says the lines, "Denmark is a prison". His request to go back to Wittenburg is refused by King Claudius and Queen Gertrude and hence he cannot express he sadness. In his "To be or not to be" soliloquy, Hamlet shows that he is unable to cope with his mission due to his peace-loving nature; he wants to escape by suicide. Hamlet's discontent gave him many issues to deal with and therefore he defers the assassination of the king. Another thing that delays Hamlet to kill the king is because of his sensitivity honour. In the play, Hamlet refuses to kill the king in the church while he is praying because it is underhanded.

He wants the king to suffer for what he has done. Also, he needs to find out whether the ghost is telling the truth. To see if the king actually murdered his father before he takes action by using the play, The Murder of Gonzalo, and watches carefully at Claudius. As well, he blames himself and calls himself a coward when he did not kill his uncle for so long.

He feels that he is dishonourable in the sense that he postpones the revenge as far as possible. Honour has a role in Hamlet's sensitivity that delayed him killing Claudius. Hamlet's peace-loving and caring nature also lags the murder. He contemplates on the consequences before he does anything because he does not want to cause harm to those near him. As aforementioned, Hamlet refuses to make a ghost out of King Claudius before he knew the truth. Another example of this is when he insults Ophelia, who Hamlet truly loves, so that she will stay away and therefore, get away from any harm.

He says to Ophelia, "Get thee to a nunnery". Although harsh, but nonetheless, protective of Ophelia. As well, he is caring because he wants to know the truth. He does not act on impulse and goes kill the King immediately. He astutely prepares a play that will unravel what is in Claudius's mind. This trait of Hamlet causes him to be delaying.

Hamlet's melancholy nature, his honourable personality, and his truth-seeking person all contribute to the procrastination of avenging his father's death. He had to burden the pain of losing his father and to avenge his death. If Hamlet was able to put Claudius into jail by finding evidence of Claudius's murder, then the characters in Hamlet would not have suffer from such a tragedy. One must not let a tragedy hold us back and one must take action to correct a mistake immediately.