The main character of William Shakesphere's The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark can be looked at in more than one way. Some would view Hamlet as a brilliant hero, who honourably listened to the ghost of his father, and avenged his father's death by killing his murderer. Others, on the other hand, might view him as a lunatic who ends the lives of many people to fulfill the wishes of a hallucination. Before one decides to say that Hamlet needed professional help, s/he must first know the story and hear the argument that says he does need help, then hear the argument that says that Hamlet is all right.

To make a correct assumption about Hamlet and his mental state, one must know how the story of Hamlet goes. It begins in Denmark, where Horatio has told Prince Hamlet about a ghost that was sighted numerous times. Hamlet, at the time, is not happy, because his mother has married his uncle, Claudius. Hamlet goes to meet the ghost, and the news that the ghost brings cheers Hamlet up. It informs Hamlst that it is the spirit of King Hamlet, Hamlet's deceased father, and thatClaudius was the one who murdered him, and that it wants Hamlet to avenge the death of King Hamlet. To prove Claudius' guilt, Hamlet arranges a play that depicts the death of King Hamlet at the hands of Claudius. When Claudius sees the play, he is overcome with guilt, and goes to church so he can confess his sing. Hamlet realizes that he cannot kill Claudius at the time ,because he is now absolved of his sing. He decides to kill Claudius after he commits another act which will tarnish his soul. Hamlet then goes to his mother and tells her how unfaithful she is to King Hamlet. Suddnely, Hamlet hears a nice, panics, and accidentally kills Polonius, the father of Hamlet's female companion. When Claudius hears of this atrocity, he orders that Hamlet be taken to Engalnd and beheaded. On the way to Engalnd, Hamlet is intercepted by pirates and retuns to Denmark, where Claudius plans to kill him in a fixed fencing dual. While Claudius is planning, Hamlet and Horatio are in the cemetery talking, and, without warning, a funeral procession marches by. It turns out to be the funeral of Ophelia, Hamlet's emale companion. Her brother, Laertes, blames her death on Hamlet, and tries to strangle him in her grave. He failed at it. A few days later, at the fencing dual, Claudius has a poisoned swoard and a poisoned cup of wine prepared. The dual begins, Hamlet gets nicked by the sword, the swords get mixed up, Laertes is nicked by it, Hamlet's mother shows up and drinks the poison wine, then Laertes admits that it's a setup to kill Hamlet. When Hamlet realizes that Claudius is behind the death of him and his mother, he stabs him with the poisoned sword and forces him to drinkthe rest of the poison wine. Hamlet then dies right after telling Horatio to let the story of Hamlet be known.

After hearing the tale of Hamlet, some would say that Hamlet is in need of help, and they might be able to convince someone else, because there are instances in which Hamlst appears to have a mental problem. A number of things that we see in Hamet are similar to things seen in a person suffering from a borderline personality disorder, such as unstable interpersonal relationships, impulsivness that may be self damaging, and suicidal threats. His relationship with Ophelia seems good at first, but when she returns his gifts and letters, he suddenly stops loving her, despite the fact that, during the firth with Laertes, he said that he was the only one who truly loved her. Hamlet displayed self damaging impulsiveness when he jumped into Ophelia'sgrave and began grappling with Laertes, when he jumped aboard the pirate ship alone, and when he killed Rosencrantz and Gulidstern, who his father's spirit didn't mention when it asked Hamlet to murder Claudius. Hamlet didn't actually threaten to commit suicide, but his soliloquy, in which he stated, "...to die, to sleep, no more; and by a sleep,to say we end the heart-ache, and the thousand naturla shocks that flesh is heir to...", let us know that suicide was on his mind.

A supporter of Hamlet could efend Hamlet and prove that Hamlet was perfectly sane. In a conversation with Horatio, Hamlet mentions putting on an "antic disposition." By this, he meant he was going to "assume mad or grotesque behaviour." He's telling Horatio that it will be an act. Another thing that tells us that Hamlet is not in need of help is the fact that, around his friends, such as Horatio, Benardo, and Franchisco, he appears to be the same old Hamlet that he's always been. Around people usch as Claudius, Opheilia, and the couriers, Rosencrantsz and Guildenstern, he's putting on the antic disposition. Although Hamlet put on the act around Claudius, Claudius tells Polonius that the act "was not like maddness." Polonius states that, "Through this maddness, yet there is a method in't." Hamlet eventually admits to his mother that he is "essentially...not in maddness, but mad in craft." Finally, if Hamlet's staged madness and Ophelia's natural maddness were compared, a world of differerence could be found.

Now that both the story and the arguments have been stated, you probably realize that Hamlet was all right. His only problem was that he didn't want to kill Claudius when he had the chance because he wanted Claudius to burn in the stygian dephs of eternal damnation, and that wouldn’t have happened then, because his conscience had been cleared by the confession in the church.