"To be, or not to be? That is the question-"

       Hamlet is one of the most complex, crazy characters I have ever heard of.  He is in love one minute and then telling his girlfriend to go be a nun the next.  He goes mad trying to decide whether to kill his stepfather/uncle, is practically in love with his mother, and talks to a skull in a graveyard.  To me, that adds up to one strange prince.  Plus, throughout the entire play, he changes his whole outlook on life and religion.  

        In the beginning, Hamlet is supposed to have some Protestant beliefs.  This assumption comes from the fact that he goes to school at Wittenberg, the place where Martin Luther nailed his theses.  Also, Protestants wouldn't believe in ghosts which is how Hamlet feels when Horatio tells him of his father's ghost.  The only reason that Hamlet has a reason to believe Horatio is that his friend has the same beliefs, and if Horatio believes that the ghost is real, then it must be real.  Then, while Hamlet is talking about his depression, he says "Oh that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, or that the Everlasting had not fixed his canon 'gainst self-slaughter" (Act 1, Scene 2).  This shows that he believes in a God that punishes, and if he sins, he will not go to Heaven.  However, he later talks about the "dread of something after death, the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns" (Act 3, Scene 1).  This shows a change in Hamlet's outlook on God.  He doesn't show a definite belief in a heaven anymore.  Also, as the story goes on, he cares less and less about his life and the punishment he would receive if he killed Claudius.  He also shows little regret over killing Polonius, something that could keep him out of Heaven.  Although Hamlet shows Protestant and some Catholic beliefs, he gives up on caring about a God or Heaven and Hell.

       Hamlet's philosophies on life change throughout the play, too.  When he is talking to his father's ghost, Hamlet says that he wants to know who the murderer so "with wings as swift as meditation or the thoughts of love, may sweep to [his] revenge" ( Act 1, Scene 5).  However, Hamlet's readiness to take revenge on Claudius quickly fades as he says that he is "pigeon-livered and lack[s] gall" (Act 2, Scene 2).  Hamlet's view on murdering his uncle changes.  He does not want him to have any chance of going to Heaven and must thing of a more conniving way of getting revenge instead of what the ghost asked of him.  Also, his view of life grows more cynical as the story goes on.  When talking to Polonius, he says "You can't take anything from me that I care less about- except my life, except my life, except my life" (Act 2, Scene 2).  Already, Hamlet shows no regard for his life and wants to die.  Then, in Act 5, Scene 1, when Hamlet talks to Yorick's skull, he realizes that life means nothing because no matter what you do in life, everyone dies rots in the dirt.  His outlook on life in general grows darker to the point where he could care less about life and what he does.  Hamlet's views change throughout this story as he hates himself more and more.