Hamlet | Delay in Hamlet

The following two critical excerpts examine in depth Hamlet's delay. Robert Hapgood, in the first excerpt, defines Hamlet's particular form of delay as "inertia" because he experiences difficulty both in getting started and in coming to a stop. In the second excerpt, Robert R. Reed, Jr. analyzes not only Hamlet's internal meditations on his hesitation to exact revenge on Claudius, but also various external obstacles which prevent him from killing the king.

Robert Hapgood

[Hapgood examines the dramaturgy, or the dramatic representation, of "delay" in Hamlet pointing out that while Hamlet is the primary focus of this issue, other characters—most notably Claudius, Laertes, and Fortinbras—often delay or are hindered during the course of events. The critic explores how action begins and ends at various moments in the play in a sequence of events that often culminates in a standstill in which a character experiences a direct contradiction to his or her purposes. Hapgood defines Hamlet's particular form of delay as...

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