I always thought of hamlet as some grumpy old nobleman, but the version I watched showed him completely differently. Hamlet was a moody kid who was angry at his mother and couldn't control himself around Ophelia. Even though he was right about Claudius, he was still crazy. Hamlet's and Ophelia's decent into madness are the tragedy of the play.
If Hamlet weren't obsessed with revenge he might have found a way to dethrone Claudius without having to kill him. But instead he goes into a rage and half of the characters end up dying. Some of them like Claudius and Gertrude probably deserved revenge, but Ophelia and Laertes were innocent.
Hamlet was a childish and angry brat. I can understand wanting to avenge your father but the way Hamlet went about it was like one long tantrum that cost 6 lives. I think that the story had to end the way it did though. Shakespeare was writing about murder, revenge, greed, and insanity. I don't see how a story about those things can have a happy ending.
Nice post! yeah I sense some Dostoevsky's Mr. Goliadkin in Hamlet kind of goes nuts although he is justified in his actions half the time.
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