Hamlet's grief over the death of his father is a hindrance to exacting revenge.

Hamlet is most well known for his indecisiveness. He spends nearly the entire play trying to decide if and how he should fulfill his late father’s wishes to kill Claudius.

It is no surprise Hamlet is confused and conflicted. In a matter of days, his father dies; his mother marries his uncle, who takes his late father’s place as king; and the ghost of his dead father appears to him and informs him that he was murdered by his brother, Claudius. The apparition then asks Hamlet to avenge him by killing Claudius.

This is a lot to take in, especially in such a short period of time. Any one of these events would be traumatizing on its own, but they all occur in rapid succession, making them all the more overwhelming. Hamlet does not have time to properly process his feelings or grief. The emotional turmoil he experiences leaves him confused and unsure of how to proceed. His grief is a detriment to avenging his father, because he is under a great deal of pressure to make a life-changing decision in a short period of time, without having had the time to process his feelings.