Ultimately, even this attempt fails. Gertrude fails to respond to these premises with recognition of them and a subsequent conclusion that she no longer loves Claudius. What happens next?
Why He Procrastinates
Hamlet procrastinates in the play, such as during the protracted Players’ scene or during the clown’s graveyard scene, for the essential reason that his psychological feelings confuse his ability to confront his destiny. He finds it very difficult to decide whether to kill Claudius or let him be, due to his catch-22 psychological situation.
The Play’s Ending in Light of the Preceding Discussion
The penultimate decision that Hamlet makes with regard to Claudius is to not kill Claudius, but to let Claudius be and let fate and divine forces take over his awesome responsibility. He makes this decision mainly as a means of quickly escaping the intense psychological stress under which he finds himself and, instead, entering the much more psychologically peaceful state of earthly denial. Although this reason may seem arbitrary, Shakespeare clearly emphasizes the importance of such a motivation to escape pain, per se, in Hamlet’s decision-making. He does so by emphasizing the Player’s scene, which, although it does not efficiently advance the plot, emphasizes that Hamlet is obsessed with gathering information about Claudius, and therefore that Hamlet is obsessed with disproving Claudius’ guilt. The concrete advantage of disproving such guilt is that it quickly resolves Hamlet’s pain, thus showing that the sheer motivation to escape the pain of his obsession is prominent in Hamlet’s decision-making calculus. Escaping in denial also seems to be Hamlet’s best option at this point since, having previously confronted Gertrude with the premises of Claudius’ crime, she apparently failed to respond to these premises with recognition of them and contempt for Claudius.
Ultimately, of course, Hamlet decides to kill Claudius. He does so for a variety of reasons. Most importantly, his mother, in drinking Claudius’ drink and thus poisoning herself, becomes conscious of Claudius’ treachery. She communicates her knowledge of this to Hamlet (“The Drink, the drink, I am poisoined”) and thus her implied withdrawal of all support of Claudius. This eliminates the threat of motherly estrangement, virtually paving the way for Hamlet to kill Claudius. Also, however, Laertes informs Hamlet of his knowledge of Claudius’ treachery in the very end, as well as his distaste for Claudius, thus removing the threat of friend estrangement. Previously, as well, Hamlet had shown Horatio the proof of Claudius’ treachery, thus further mollifying this type of estrangement threat. In addition, Claudius’ treachery is itself immoral, thus justifying Hamlet to kill him on principle. Also, the convenience and suddenness by which Hamlet came upon his opportunity to kill Claudius (Claudius prepared the poison, weapons, setting, etc.) allowed Hamlet to kill Claudius on impulse, thus sparing him of potential indecisiveness that protracted consideration might cause him. Finally, since Hamlet was mortally wounded, he had nothing to lose.
Brief comments on Other Plot Developments
1. The probable dramatic purpose of showing Hamlet in the doldrums prior to knowing of his father’s murder is to lend credibility to the idea that Hamlet’s obsession causes him intense psychological stress. After all, one might imagine that if Hamlet could get this depressed before hearing of his father’s murder, he would likely become extremely high-strung once he learns of his murder.
2. In theory, Hamlet could have killed Claudius while feigning insanity. Thus, he would escape estrangement, because his people would blame his action on his insanity, not on malicious intent. He does not do this, however, because he is subconsciously inhibited from deliberately killing the man whom his beloved mother loves. When he lunges at Polonius behind the curtain, thinking that the person behind the curtain might have been Claudius, he does not know exactly who is behind the curtain and thus, had he killed Claudius, he could not have done so deliberately.
3. Although Hamlet feigns insanity in order to throw off suspicion of his true, hostile intentions to kill Claudius, there is one person who sees through them, namely Claudius. One might believe, that since Hamlet thinks like Claudius, that Hamlet would not believe that feigning insanity will throw off suspicion, since he knows that Claudius will eventually harbor that suspicion. This is true, but one must keep in mind the term “eventually.” Hamlet knew that Claudius would not harbor this suspicion until later (as opposed to immediately if Hamlet had not feigned his insanity). Thus, it was part of Hamlet’s calculation that feigning insanity would not permanently remove suspicion of his ulterior motives, but simply buy him time to prepare his murder of Claudius and to vent his anger at those whom he resented. In addition, Claudius’ eventual development of this suspicion and his eventual assassination attempt at Hamlet are both dramatic devices meant to conclude the play in a manner that re-enforces the themes associated with Hamlet’s response to his obsession. After all, they lead to the final assassination scene that re-enforces these themes.
4. An important theme in the play is the inability of many of Hamlet’s people in the royal household to understand or psychologically accept the information that proves Claudius’ crime. This inability strengthens the risk of psychological estrangement that Hamlet might feel in attempting to kill Claudius or succeeding in doing so. There are various manifestations of this theme. Gertrude’s lack of recognition when Hamlet confronts her with the premises of Claudius’ crime is one. Polonius’ inability to understand why Hamlet seems insane is another, which reflects his general naivete in understanding things. The main dramatic purpose of the play’s opening scene is arguably to illustrate this theme. In it, Shakespeare portrays Hamlet’s friends are naively friendly and loyal (and thus psychologically too na?ve to accept the information proving Claudius’ guilt, except for Horatio in particular). They are also unable to grab the ghost physically, and cannot induce the ghost to tell them of his message, as if only Hamlet has the ability to deal responsibly and effectively with the ghost’s information.
Results of this theme include Hamlet treacherously changing the names on the letter calling for his execution to actually call for Rosencranz and Guildensterns’ execution. It is Hamlet’s revenge for the resentment he feels against them for spying on Hamlet and supporting Claudius. This morally double standard behavior results from his colleagues’ misunderstanding Hamlet’s motivation and justification for his behavior. Hamlet’s killing of Polonius is also a manifestation of this result.. If Polonius hadn’t misjudged Hamlet, he would not have been in his risky position behind the curtain at that time in the first place. Thus, the misunderstanding of information by his fellows in the royal household inadvertently cause them to engage in estranging behavior vis-?-vis Hamlet, inducing Hamlet to respond violently and resentfully towards them.
Central Themes of the Play
>From the above we derive the central themes of the play. Among them are:
1) The intense psychological pain that Hamlet’s obsession, per se, causes him.
2) The ignorance and obliviousness of his countrymen to Claudius’ guilt.
3) His tendency to feign insanity in order to conceal his obsession and to be able to express the intense feelings brought about within him by the obsession and the lack of support he faces from his countrymen in carrying it out.
4) His obsession with gathering information to prove or disprove Claudius’ guilt.
5) That the ignorance of his countrymen to Claudius’ guilt is an important obstacle Hamlet faces in trying to destroy Claudius.
6) The loneliness that Hamlet feels from having an enormous responsibility but being largely alone in knowing about it and shouldering it.
7) That if Hamlet does discover proof of Claudius’ guilt, he must be careful to whom and under what circumstance he communicates it. Otherwise, he may be informed upon and subsequently destroyed.
8) Sheer procrastination is one way for Hamlet to deal with the stress of his catch-22 psychological situation.
9) His tendency to violently profane Ophelia and Gertrude’s love for him.
10) That Hamlet, despite his desire to extract revenge against Claudius, is also actively looking for ways to relieve himself of the psychological pain that harboring his obsession causes him, even if seeking psychological refuge in such ways might mean giving up on the endeavor altogether.
11) That Hamlet’s awareness, of the high risk of personal estrangement that he faces from his endeavor to extract revenge, is for him a source of great stress.
12) That the ignorance of his people of Claudius’ crime and their discomfort at knowing it may cause them to commit the morally double-standard act of rejecting Hamlet and supporting Claudius.
13) That despite his fear of rejection by his countrymen, Hamlet still has the capacity to take out on them the anger he feels against them for potentially or actually committing this double-standard act.
Virtually every scene or element in the play relates to these themes. In other words, the purpose of Hamlet is simply to delineate and comment upon an individual’s psychological response to feeling the rare type of obsession that Hamlet feels in the play.. The above themes are phenomena associated with that response, or with Shakespeare’s model of that response.