Hamlet In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Hamlet is approached by his murdered father's spirit. During their conversation, Hamlet is asked by the spirit to seek revenge on Claudius for killing him. Even knowing that he has to avenge his father's unlawful death, Hamlet's sadness seems to hold him back to some extent. Hamlet is so disturbed and paralyzed with melancholy that he is unable to motivate himself to carryout the task that his father has made for him. It is not until actions of others forcing him to act on instinct that he is able to progress in his act of seeking the revenge of his father's death.
To begin with, Claudius's reaction to the play that Hamlet coordinated was key in confirming Hamlet's suspicion that Claudius killed King Hamlet. Hamlet wrote a play for some passing actors whom agreed to act out the scenes that would tear at Claudius' conscious.
David Garrick in Hamlet, I, 4
Book signing and Hamlet Au's interview with Julian...
HamletThe actors were to reenact the scenes of Claudius pouring the poison into his brother's ear and killing the King. When Claudius screams out in the middle of the play and the play is put on pause because Claudius runs out of the theater, Hamlet knows that he is guilty. He is determined to tell his mother about the black, impure heart of her new husband and why he has been acting as if he were a mad man. He tells her that her new husband is her brother in law as well as the murderer of he first husband, King Hamlet. "He killed the King,"� asks Gertrude in disbelief. (iii.iv.29) Hamlet replies that she heard him correctly.(iii.iv.30) Claudius revealing his guilt at the play also prompted Hamlet to reveal the true nature of his "mad man"� actions. He explains to her that he is not really mad, but...