The play Hamlet is essentially a character study of an individual who develops an obsession with killing the King, yet risks psychological problems if he cures himself of his self-imposed torment. It is plainly evident that Hamlet is obsessed with destroying the powerful force ruling his country, i.e., Claudius. It is this obsession that begins Hamlet's strange behaviour, and I believe later the risks of psychological disruption as a result of trying to carry out his fixation. I also believe that it is what shapes Hamlet's behaviour to the audience, his madness and cryptic answers- conduct that seems bizarre and perplexing without explanation. An Elizabethan audience would be familiar with the idea of a 'revenge play' involving a wronged hero, but they would still be puzzled by Hamlet's pretended madness, resulting from, I believe, his fascination on justice.

Hamlet's reasons for his obsession for exacting revenge against Claudius a

One way that Hamlet releases the mental stress is that he feigns insanity. "Though this be madness, there's method in't" The feigned madness allows him to do several things that he could otherwise not do, for example the case with Ophelia. Hamlet would like to express his strong, unmanageable anger towards her for rejecting him for seemingly no reason, but without arising suspicion in Polonius or in her even. If he were in a hostile and rational state of mind others might foresee his to commit other rationally planed hostile actions, such as even killing Claudius.

At some point Hamlet must realize the fact that his mother unwittingly fell in love with such a vile man: a man who is not only immoral, but has also successfully weakened Hamlet by killing his father. In killing Claudius Hamlet risks his Mother leaving since she might forever see Hamlet as the man who killed her lover. She might never believe in Claudius' guilt, either because Hamlet would not be able to convince her of his treason, or because of a sense of denial. And even if she does admit it to herself she would feel very hurt, something which Hamlet Sr., Claudius and Hamlet strive to avoid.

Penultimatly, Hamlet decides that the best thing would be to let fate and divine forces take over his awesome responsibility and obsession in relation to Claudius as he sets off for England. "Farewell Mother...father and mother is man and wife...is one flesh, and so, my mother" I believe he makes this decision to free himself from the psychological stress that he finds himself under so that he can feel he is doing something, while not actually doing anything major- a state of peaceful denial almost. Although this reason may seem arbitrary, Shakespeare clearly emphasizes the importance of such a motivation to escape pain, in Hamlet's decision-making. Shakespeare emphasises the Player's scene, which although it does not efficiently advance the plot, emphasizes that Hamlet is obsessed with gathering information about Claudius, that Hamlet is obsessed with disproving Claudius' guilt. The real advantage of disproving such guilt is that it would quickly resolves Hamlet's pain, thereby showing that the pure motivation to escape the pain of his fixation is foremost in Hamlet's decision-making. Escaping into denial seems to be Hamlet's best option at this point in the play, since having previously confronted Gertrude with Claudius' crime.

Something, which really fuels Hamlet's insecure state of mind in the play, is the inability of many of Hamlet's people in the royal household to understand or psychologically accept the information that proves Claudius' crime. It is almost like a theme in the play, there are several manifestations; Gertrude's lack of recognition when Hamlet confronts her with the premises of Claudius' crime is one. Polonius' inability to understand why Hamlet seems insane is another, which reflects his general naivete in understanding things. The main dramatic purpose of the play's opening scene is, in my opinion, to illustrate this theme. In it, Shakespeare portrays Hamlet's friends as naively friendly and loyal (and in a way psychologically too naive to accept the information proving Claudius' guilt, except for Horatio in particular as he is a long-term friend of Hamlet). They are also unable to grasp the ghost physically, and cannot convince the ghost to tell them of his message, as if only Hamlet has the ability to deal responsibly and effectively with the ghost's information.

"Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes;

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Approximate Word count = 2398
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)