A Time to Kill
What gets Hamlet to finally act and avenge his father's murder? I think we need to take a closer look at Hamlet, and his state of mind for the answer. Hamlet was a student at the University of Wittenberg when he is called home to bury his father. He wishes to return to school after his father is laid to rest. However he is persuaded to stay against his will, at Elsinore by the King Claudius, his uncle and Queen Gertrude, his mother. Hamlet is extremely intelligent and has a quick verbal wit about him. We see this in his soliloquies and his interaction with other characters in the play. He seems to have his head in a book when he has the chance; learning is his real passion. However he is stuck at the castle where he mopes around in black, mourning his father's death and the recent marriage of his uncle to his mother. Hamlet is out of place here. He is called to action by his father's ghost to avenge his murder at the hands of Claudius. Hamlet promises his dead father that he will act immediately, but he delays and delays.
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