Hamlet was bound by honor and a code or righteousness. He could not merely kill Claudius as Claudius had killed his father, Hamlet was obligated by personal, honorable, Biblical, and righteous standards to hesitate until the right time. When Polonius said to Hamlet, “Readiness is all”, it sparked the fact the Hamlet must wait until the perfect time to take his revenge.
In ACT I, scene 5, Hamlet is visited by the ghost of his father. The ghost makes Hamlet aware of his murderous death when he tells Hamlet of how Claudius had killed him. The ghost tells Hamlet, “Revenge this foul, and most unnatural murder”, this ia where Hamlet is first introduced to revenge.
Hamlet wants to insure that the ghost reallt was his dead father before he kills Claudius. To do this, Hamlet has people act out the death of his father in front of the King. Hamlet declares Claudius to be guilty by his reaction to the play.
After leraning of his father’s death, Hamlet decides that he can no longer trust anyone, but Horatio. While acting out his madness, he visits Ophelia, and refuses his love for her because of his distrust for everyone.
Hamlet chose not to do things the was Claudius had done, but the way it was expected of him by his father; carefully thought out and planned. Even if it caused Hamlet to loose his mother, his love and his life because of it. He knew Polonius’s word to be true, that “Readiness IS all”.
