Something was definitely rotten in the state of Denmark. The king had died from a heinous murder, a betrayal by his own brother, young Hamlet was thrown out of the frying pan, which was the death of his father, and into the fire of revenge. On would think that an act of vengeance like this, the punishment of an enraged son for the unjust murder of his father, would come so quickly, savagely and brutally, driven by rage and anger. This simply wasn't the case with William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. While the young prince Hamlet carefully thought about his plans for revenge for quite a long time due to his apparent weakness and inertia. “The smallest action is greater than the greatest intention” (Stokes 90). Hamlet was full of great ideas and intentions on how to kill the king, but he failed to take action and carry out the act that was his revenge, the destruction of Claudius. Why did Hamlet choose, and was it his choice, not to take revenge on Claudius quickly and decisively? Hamlet had his reasons for inaction; the strategy he felt was most suitable for his revenge. “Hamlet was undoubtedly an incredible intellectual and throughout the play the thoughts in his mind came too fast for the actions of his body to keep up” (Stokes 92). This intellectual quality provided an obstacle to Hamlet quickly taking revenge on Claudius. Almost all of Hamlet's actions, with the exception of his outburst at Ophelia's grave, were carefully planned and precisely calculated. “His innate thought process prolonged his revenge, and while Hamlet may have seemed slow from inaction, the wheels in his mind never stopped turning” (Stokes 92). Hamlet questioned everything. He may have thought too much for his own good at times, he struggled with many ideas, thoughts and feelings over the course of the show, delaying any real action until the right time, in his eyes. Hamlet questioned the validity of his father's ghost. Hamlet wasn't sure if the ghost was really his father or if it was the devil trying to trick him into committing a crime. He needed to prove to himself that what the ghost said was true or not. Therefore he will put on a show that will re-enact the killing of his father to see if the king is guilty.