During the whole play Hamlet struggles to keep a level head and handle situations in a healthy manner. Most of his behaviors are self destructive and end up killing multiple people in the process.
I think Hamlet’s severe depression or melancholia plays a huge part in his degeneration as a hero and a prince. In the beginning of the play he has spent over a month severely mourning the death of his father and it has inhibited his everyday activities to the point that the queen has come and tried to talk him out of hiding. Hamlet’s reaction is to lash out in anger and push his mother away emotionally, which is common among people with depression. Since Hamlet doesn’t talk about what he is feeling and keeps his emotions bottled up he is creating a time bomb ready to explode, which is what leads to the first tragic death of Polonius. His depression also killed his relationship with Ophelia, the King, and with the town’s people since his duties as prince were seen as meaningless in the eyes of Hamlet.
Another tragic flaw of Hamlet is his obsession with death. Ever since his father’s death Hamlet has been obsessed with the dead, seeing his father’s ghost, thoughts of suicide, and even talking to the skull of a the dead court jester from his childhood. All of this thought about death prohibits Hamlet from thinking about all the good things that could become of his life. He could have married Ophelia and run his kingdom, but he thinks those dreams are dead since his mother immediately married the king’s uncle and now Hamlet believes love is dead. So now that Hamlet doesn’t have anything to look forward to, in his mind, he becomes fascinated with his own death and think of what good can come to him and the people around him once he has past. Something else that Hamlet does is talk to the skull of a childhood friend. The strangest thing about that to me is that he talks about how many times he has kissed the lips of the man whose skull it is. This is almost a metaphor with the kiss of death Hamlet is about to have when he sees Ophelia is dead, and with all the deaths soon to follow in the play, and finally ending with him kissing his dead mother as he is being swallowed by death’s sweet embrace.
The irony of this play is that the death of Hamlet’s father is what impacts Hamlet to be so crazy, but he tries to avenge his father by plotting to kill the King. By attempting to kill the King and become the hero he turns everyone on him and ends up being the bad guy by killing his friends and even his own mother. Hamlet’s mental flaws are what make this play have such an impact on the viewer, and earns it the title of a tragedy.
NEXT: To Be Depressed or Move to Action, That Is The Question