The problem of Hamlet

The question which has preoccupied critics of Hamlet is : why does the prince delay in taking his revenge on the man who murdered his father? As soon as he learns of the guilt of his uncle, Claudius, he promises to ‘sweep’ to his ‘revenge’ ‘with wings as swift / As meditation’ (I.v.29–31). And yet he does not kill the king immediately, and his delay costs the lives of his mother, Gertrude, his beloved, Ophelia, her father, Polonius, her brother, Laertes, as well as Hamlet's old friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Frustrated by the often bizarre theories offered to explain the prince's delay, some critics have rejected the idea that any mystery surrounds his hesitation. They argue that his difficulties are external and point to the many impediments which stand in the way of his swiftly and easily killing Claudius, such as the guards who normally surround the king and Hamlet's need to produce a publicly acceptable justification for his revenge before acting.

But Shakespeare seems to have gone out of his way to indicate that Hamlet's difficulties are not merely those of outward circumstance. The episode of Laertes leading a rebellion against Claudius to avenge the death of his father, Polonius, seems designed to suggest how much more easily Hamlet could have challenged the king, especially given the fact that, as Claudius himself admits, the prince is ‘lov'd of the distracted multitude’ (IV.iii.4).