Hamlet's delay in revenge Hamlet's first thoughts after learning of his father's murder concern immediate and violent revenge against Claudius. However, his subsequent actions fall short of these resolutions. In Four Acts he takes few deliberate actions against his uncle, although the ghost explicitly calls for swift revenge. In the words of S. T. Coleridge, Hamlet's central 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 sorrowful, bitter and desperate. The source of Hamlet's melancholy is "the death of his father" and the "too hasty marriage" of his mother and uncle. He feels like he has to do something, but he doesn't know exactly what. He expresses his disgust at his mother's inconstancy and incestuous new marriage, but is destined 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 instructions are unambiguous: "if ever you loved your dear father... avenge his foul and unnatural murder." The apparition, armed "from head to toe", then tells the story of Claudius' betrayal in stark and horrific detail. It is now evident to Hamlet 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 charged with avenging his father's murder and freeing Denmark from the king's shadow. Np: Princeton University Press, 1972.Pitt, Angela. "Women in Shakespeare's Tragedies." Readings on tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprinted from Shakespeare's Women. Np: np, 1981.Rosenberg, Marvin. "Laertes: an impulsive but serious young aristocrat." Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardò. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from Hamlet's Masks. 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 Nardò. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Court and the Castle. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1957.