The plot is not вЂњLet us see how Hamlet goes about killing his uncle, вЂќ the plot is вЂњLet us see how Hamlet psychologically copes with the fracturing of his family and the burden of a murder-however justified.вЂќ The play, aptly called Hamlet, is not about HamletвЂ™s actions, but HamletвЂ™s psychology and inner emotional landscape. On the other hand, Hamlet is a literary play. Shakespeare did not do anything similar in Macbeth or A Midsummer NightвЂ™s Dream, both of which are plot-driven stories by which to say the driving force of the story is that of what happened. Like the sphere model of the universe, which became so complex with added spheres one within another, trying to make sense of a fundamentally flawed theory, the theory that HamletвЂ™s inaction is a plot failure is based on a failure to realize what manner of system is being studied. It has to do with genre, and it is this from which comes the complexity that would otherwise be very simple. In fact, the play is character-driven, and when viewed in this light, a solution to the bafflement is close at hand. If the story were plot-driven, then bafflement would be an appropriate response. However, the seemingly insolvable and baffling plot device remains unexplained only if one misunderstands the nature of the play.

ThatвЂ™s what some people seem to think, asking вЂњWhy does Hamlet wait to kill the king?вЂќ A better-crafted play would have put the action earlier, so the argument goes.

William Shakespeare made a bad plot choice.

King hamlet