Hamlet the Perfectionist
A perfectionist is one who does not accept anything less than perfect. Hamlet unlike many characters throughout the play does not make haste to see his vengeance satisfied but rather delays until the situation is perfect in his eyes. As an intellectual Hamlet being a perfectionist is a very viable reason for why throughout the play he proceeds to delay his plans leading to his demise. Early on in the play, it is said that Hamlet was an intelligent man which could have been the rise to his perfectionist nature. Through William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Hamlet, it can be seen that Hamlet is a perfectionist which causes him to delay his plans for revenge against King Claudius.
Hamlet did not attempt to get his revenge until he was one hundred percent sure that Claudius had killed his father. To make sure that his revenge would be perfect he wanted Claudius to admit to his sins. Hamlet's perfectionist characteristics gave rise to his plan for the King to admit to his wrongdoings during the play. The King needed to confess to his betrayal otherwise Hamlet's vengeance wouldn't have been properly motivated and the idea which fueled his vengeance would not have been perfect causing his motivation not to be perfect.
Due to Hamlet being a perfectionist he was unable to kill the King when he found him praying as it was not the perfect scenario. Hamlet's perfectionist mind lead him to believe that if he killed the king while he was praying he would have sent the King to heaven which wouldn't be revenge but mercy. Hamlet at this moment decided of his “perfect scenario” in which he will get his revenge. A non-perfectionist would have seized the opportunity as he could have killed Claudius and made it out innocently and no one would have known who killed him.
There are multiple moments in which Hamlet has the opportunity to exact his revenge but constantly puts it off and it is because he is a perfectionist. Hamlet waits until he is one hundred percent sure that the King did kill his father and he also wouldn’t kill the King while he was praying as it would send him to heaven. Hamlet prolongs the King's life and his revenge until the moment at which the situation is no less than perfect which is the textbook definition of being a perfectionist.