HAMLET, GENERALLY REGUARDED AS ONE OF SHAKESPEARE'S GREATEST TRAGEDIES, REPRESENTS A PROFOUND PSYCHOLOGICAL PORTRAIT OF A TORTURED AND COMPLEX PERSONALITY, ONE THAT IS THROWN IN TO A NETWORK OF CORRUPTION AND DECEIT FOUND IN THE MIDST OF HIS OWN FAMILY. TORTURED BY THE REALIZATION OF HIS UNCLE'S MURDEROUS NATURE, HAMLET SETS OUT TO AVENGE HIS FATHER'S DEATH ONLY TO DISCOVER THE TRAGEDY AND DEVISTATION BROUGHT ABOUT BY ATTEMPTING TO STEER FATE WITH HIS OWN HAND.
             ONE OF THE POSSIBLE REASONS FOR THIS PLAY'S OBVIOUS SUCCESS IS THE USE OF HAMLET'S CHARACTER TO EXEMPLIFY THE COMPLEX WORKINGS OF THE HUMAN MIND, WHICH GENERATES COUNTLESS DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS OF ITS MEANING. FOR IT IS THROUGH HAMLET'S STRUGGLE TO CONFRONT HIS INTERNAL DILEMMAS THAT THE READER BECOMES AWARE OF THE INFLUENCE THAT ONE'S STATE OF MIND CAN POSE ON A SITUATION. FOR EXAMPLE, THE APPEARANCE OF A GHOST IN THE FORM OF THE KING HAMLET SERVES AS AN INSTIGATOR IN HAMLET'S MENTAL DEMISE. BY MEETING WITH THE GHOST, HAMLET IS NOT ONLY PROHIBITED FROM SEVERING THE DESTRUCTIVE MENTAL TIES THAT BIND HIM TO HIS DECEASED FATHER, BUT ALSO SERVE TO FURTHER INTENSIFY HIS STATE OF MOURNING AND INSTABILITY. FORCED TO EMPATHIZE WITH THE GHOST, HAMLET'S OWN SOURCE OF DISTRESS IS THEN COUPLED WITH THE GRIEF OF HIS FATHER, "THUS ENJOINING HAMLET TO IDENTIFY WITH HIM IN HIS SORROW AND GIVE MURDEROUS PURPOSE TO HIS ANGER."
             HAMLET'S DUTY AS A SON, IN HIS SOCIAL EXTENT AND CIRCUMSTANCES, IS ONE WHICH ENCOURAGES HIM TO SEEK REVENGE FOR HIS FATHER. IN THE FIRST SILILOQUY AFTER THE ENCOUNTER WITH THE GHOST, HAMLET QUICKLY ACKNOWLEDGES HIS DUTY AS A SON, SWEARING THAT
             HE'LL WIPE AWAY ALL THE TRIVIAL FOND RECORDS,
             ALL SAWS OF BOOKS, ALL FORMS, ALL PRESSURE PAST...
             ANS THY COMMANDMENT ALL ALONE SHALL LIVE
             WITHIN THE BOOK AND VOLUME OF MY BRAIN,
             HAMLET SEEMS TO DECIDE WITH AN IMPE
             ...