The Delay in Hamlet's VengeanceHamlet's first thoughts after learning of his father's murder are those of immediate and violent revenge against Claudius. However, his subsequent actions do not live up to these resolutions. In four acts, he takes few deliberate actions against his uncle, although the ghost explicitly demands swift revenge. In the words of ST Coleridge, Hamlet's main weakness is that he is "continually resolved to do, but does nothing but resolve." Hamlet's first soliloquy, following a hostile conversation with Claudius and Gertrude, shows him distressed, bitter and desperate. The source of Hamlet's melancholy is "the death of his father" and the "hasty marriage" of his mother and uncle. He feels like he needs to do something, but he doesn't know exactly what. He expresses his disgust at his mother's inconstancy and incestuous remarriage, but is doomed to suffer in silence: he must "hold [his] tongue" for reasons of diplomacy. The world seems empty and he uses images of corruption, darkness, disease and imprisonment to reveal his state of mind. At the beginning of the play, all Hamlet sees is a terrible situation that he has no power to change. The ghost's command therefore gives Hamlet a purpose; a reason to live. His instruction is unequivocal: “if you ever loved your dear father... take revenge for his vile and most unnatural murder.” The apparition, armed "from head to toe", then tells the story of Claude's betrayal in graphic and horrific detail. Hamlet now understands what is "rotten in the State of Denmark." Shakespeare makes it very clear what Hamlet's duty is and who his enemy is. Hamlet is tasked with avenging his father's murder and freeing Denmark from the shadow of the king...... middle of paper ......e. Np: Princeton University Press, 1972. Pitt, Angela. “Women in Shakespeare’s Tragedies.” Readings on Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint of Shakespeare's Women. Np: np, 1981. Rosenberg, Marvin. “Laertes: an impulsive but serious young aristocrat.” Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Masks of Hamlet. Newark, NJ: Univ. of Delaware P., 1992. Shakespeare, William. The tragedy of Hamlet, prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.htmlWest, Rebecca. “A Court and a world infected by the disease of corruption.” Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. of The Court and the Castle. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1957.