Hamlet's Dilemma

 A question that has been asked and argued for years is why does Hamlet hesitate when going to kill King Claudius? On one hand he wishes to kill Claudius for murdering his father so harshly, but on the other hand Hamlet just cannot bring himself to commit the act. This hesitation comes when Hamlet realizes that Claudius is confessing his sins to God. Hamlet believes that if Claudius is confessing his sins when the act is committed, then he will go to heaven, and that is not what he wishes for the murderer of his father. That is when Hamlet decides that he will instead kill his uncle Claudius at a later time. But has Hamlet just given up the only chance of killing the murderer of his father? Or has Hamlet made the right choice in “backing down” now and choosing a later time to kill?

Now, I understood Hamlet’s thought processes of not wanting the murderer of his father to not go to heaven. But at the same time how could Hamlet really think that just because you confessed to something it makes it all better? If you listened closely to Claudius’s confession, he asks forgiveness for ONLY killing his brother and not taking all that came with it. Claudius basically said “sorry God, I want to apologize and get rid of all the bad but let me keep the good”.  If Hamlet would have killed Claudius there at that time, there was no way he would have gone to heaven. I do believe in all that.

But, I believe Hamlet made the right decision by not being a man of action and waiting to kill his uncle Claudius at a later time. Confused? You see, I believe that no good could have come from killing Claudius.  If Hamlet cared so much about heaven and hell than wouldn't he knows he could not go to heaven for killing one. So by Hamlet saying that he would kill Claudius at a later time, maybe this will give Hamlet time to really think and realize that maybe killing his uncle is not the best idea in the world. Yes, his uncle Claudius killed his father but there are other ways he can pay rather than Hamlet throwing away his life as well.