After discovering the truth behind his father's death, Hamlet thinks of a plan to avenge his death. Hamlet pretends to be crazy so that he may use that as an excuse for the malicious things he plans to do later on in the play. This may seem like a clever plan, yet Hamlet stalls when he has the chance to kill Claudius. In Act 3/Scene 3, Hamlet refrains from killing a very vulnerable Claudius. If Hamlet killed Claudius in his time of prayer, Claudius would've been sent to Heaven because he was confessing his sins. Not only does Hamlet want to kill Claudius, he wants him to suffer in the afterlife like his father, who died unprepared for Heaven since he didn't get to confess his sins. Some may say that Hamlet is delaying his plan by not killing Claudius when he gets the chance, but I think Hamlet knows what he's doing and is making the right choice. Sending Claudius to Heaven will be much worse than keeping him alive, plus that would render his plan a failure.
What Hamlet plans to do is kill Claudius when he is in the act of sin. By doing that, Hamlet will have the pleasure of ridding Claudius from the world, sending him to Hell, as well as removing him from the throne. Otherwise, Hamlet will be the one sent to Hell when he's executed for killing the King, while in prayer or if he decides to commit suicide after he murders Claudius. Even though King Hamlet's spirit will forever remain in Purgatory, if everything goes as planned, Claudius will be condemned by God to suffer eternal punishment in Hell. Also, because many people already believe that Hamlet is actually crazy, insanity can be used as an explanation for his actions. As ridiculous as it may seem, murderers in the past, and in the present, have pleaded insanity and successfully avoided life imprisonment and execution. Hamlet could very well get away with killing Claudius, we just have to be patient because he will do it at the right place and at the right time.
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