what was Hamlet s impression on your mind ?

Answer 1

I was left with the impression that he was a young man that deserved justice but was let down by the people that he should have trusted the most, no wonder he went over the edge. The Meaning of "To be, or not to be"

"To be, or not to be: that is the question" Hamlet Act III, Scene I).

Hamlet’s “To be, or not to be” soliloquy is probably the most famous passage in English drama–and may well be the most quoted. Its fame lies partly in the attention it receives from the endless debates it has generated about what it means. It is currently fashionable to oppose the traditional view that the passage is a deliberation in which Hamlet is trying to decide whether to commit suicide. Anti-suicide champions argue that Hamlet is really deliberating what course of action to take–or not to take–to ravel his sleeve of woe while retaining life and limb. Which view is right? Probably the traditional view–that Hamlet is contemplating hara-kiri with his bare bodkin. However, because Shakespeare carried ambiguity to the extreme in this passage instead of speaking his mind plainly, there is plenty of room to argue otherwise. Leading his readers through the tangled dendrites in Hamlet’s cerebrum, Shakespeare bewilders his audience. Admittedly, though, it is jolly good fun to try to solve the passage. In the end, though, it appears that Hamlet is indeed considering suicide in this passage.

http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xHamlet.html#To%20Be

http://library.thinkquest.org/19539/hamlet.htm

http://www.artofeurope.com/shakespeare/sha8.htm

Answer 2

Hamlet was nuts... that is to say, he was a sociopath. Check it out:

He sees ghosts. He has long, drawn-out conversations with himself (clearly delusional). He tries to feel-up Ophelia, then rejects her. He whacks Polonius, her father, thinking he was the king. This causes Ophelia overwhelming grief. She whacks herself. He gets Rosencrantz and Gilder-whatsit whacked. He has a long drawn-out conversation with a skull. He fights Laertes, the son of Polonius and brother to Ophelia; gets nicked by the poison blade, then swaps the blade, and whacks Laertes. Before Laertes dies, he rats out the king and tells Hamlet that the king has poisoned his mother. He grabs the poison dagger and whacks the king for whacking both his mother and his father. Then he dies from his injury.

This leaves only Horatio to tell the tale to late-comer Fortinbras, who is clearly clueless. He orders Hamlet buried as a fallen soldier instead of in an unknown grave which befits a psychotic revenge-bent spree-killer, who got what was coming to him.

Now this is clearly not what your English instructor had in mind, but you asked...

Answer 3

I thought he dealt well with Polonius and was very intelligent. I'd love him as a buddy at book-club joint where we just discuss words, words, words but not during Halloween parties. His presence may trigger his Dad's ghost!!