I'll wipe away all trivial fond records,.
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past.
And thy commandment alone shall live.
Within the book and volume of my brain. (1,4 98-104).
Although it appears that Hamlet will follow through with the ghost's requests, and proceed to kill Claudius, he seems to procrastinate with the murder. Although there may be a variety of factors why Hamlet does not kill Claudius instantly, it may be argued that Hamlet is displaying rational behavior, and this rational behavior keeps him from bloody murder. At first Hamlet knows that he wants nothing more than to avenge his father, but with time he gains a sense of skepticism, even questioning whether the ghost is "damned- or not. Hamlet's most rational method of deciding whether to kill Claudius or not comes when he decides to host the reenacting play. This carefully thought-through decision provides Hamlet with the perfect incentive to either kill Claudius, or decide that the ghost was lying, and that his initial emotional response was rash. .
One way in which readers and scholars of Hamlet have interpreted the significance of both reason and passion in the play is by shaping the interpretation with various philosophies throughout history. 17th century Romanticists may see Hamlet as a hero of passion: one who follows his instincts and feelings. Hamlet appears to be shaped by his different emotions at different times in the play, whether it is grief, hate, or love. .
Hamlet appears lost in a blanket of emotions that overrule his ability to think clearly. In all of his pent up anger at himself, his mother, Claudius, and everything that is "rank and gross in nature-, Hamlet manages to kill three important people in his life. It is difficult to imagine that Hamlet thought rationally before striking Polonius in his mother's bedroom. Hamlet's contempt for the corruption around him even propels him to murder both Rosencratz and Guildenstern, two of his good friends from the University at Wittenberg.
What is precisely characteristic of Lear in act 3 is that he cannot hold together the two images of human nature he observes in Edgar as first Tom o' Bedlam and then as the "noble philosopher" (3.4.172), and that is the deepest reason why his experience on the heath at least momentarily unfits him for rule. ...