How do you feel about Hamlet?

I see him as a dick in the world of pricks.

A complicated man, and no one understands him but his Bard. Somewhat like SHAFT.

One of my 5 favorite stories, along with Pinocchio, A Christmas Carol, Ulysses, and Harry Potter.
Hamlet is psychologically messed up. His Father is dead, killed by the new king, who just married his Mother. His girlfriend is crazy. Oh, and his dead father has given him the task of avenging him.
He is at times sloppy in his methods, but clear in what must be done. He is complicated, but also focused on one goal.

Hamlet is a carefree boy abruptly confronted with the requirement to grow up in a hurry. His dad’s ghost pops up out of the blue to lay a trip on the kid: “I was murdered, and I expect YOU to avenge my death”. The kid, who knows nothing of responsibility, and (worse), wants nothing to do with anything responsible, spends the rest of the play wrestling with what (if anything) to do about it. And if he is to avenge the murder, how is he to pull it off? To add to his troubles, we discover with him that he is without allies or council as the play unfolds, it grows ever more clear Hamlet is a character conflicted with finding the solutions to dilemmas sprung on him beyond his control, and he’s alone in the effort.

Hamlet “a really bad guy” for being “a vengeful man who is involved with more than one murder”? I’d not think of that perspective. Hamlet’s a crown prince who’s father was murdered by his uncle, whom his mother takes in. In Hamlet’s period and social class, killing the man who killed your father, or their pawn fighting you in a duel using poisoned weapons, is not “murder” . . . unless you’re wrong, misled, and/or are crazy, of course.

Every time I see the “To be or not to be” speech I think to myself, “Oh, for fucks sake. Just do it already.”

In terms of the tragedies I’m more partial to Macbeth and Lear.

A stay in the nut house may be in order.

If a Hamlet is an omelet, I’ll take mine with cheese.

Hamlet like most of Shakespeare’s output is a profound work on introspection and the human condition. Ream upon ream of sheer genius, the man was profoundly prolific on such matters to the point that it’s stupefying to contemplate. It is thought by many that at the time of his death, this single man was responsible for more than half the words introduced into the English language. I mean, how the fk do you pull THAT off? It’s a feat which seems to me beyond human intelligence. And in fact, for those searching for extraterrestrial intelligence, it might not be a bad idea to list him a very probable candidate.