The film begins with soldiers standing guard. Their King has fallen and there is a ghost haunting the grounds. Hamlet believes his mother has taken to marriage far too soon after her husband, the King's death. And after a meeting with the ghost of the King, his father, Hamlet is convinced he must find the truth in whether Claudius killed his great father.
Hamlet is seen to be mad throughout the film. Whether or not this is his actual state is hard to say as the young Prince slips in and out of sanity as he navigates his way through the deceptive court in Denmark. Thus we see that the opposition to Hamlet's quest are those who claim he is insane. But in an attempt to prove Hamlet's insanity, Polonius meet his doom as the Prince knows someone is spying on him and he drives his dagger through the unseen person. If Hamlet is doing this to protect himself, it does little for his cause of sanity as what sane man would kill the counselor of the King. Furthermore it drives a further distance between him and his love, Ophelia and her brother, Hamlet's friend Laertes.
Hamlet causes so much grief that he is sent away to his death, but like the ghost of his father Hamlet returns to the palace to seek his vengeance through obtaining the truth. In the end, Hamlet's quest is fulfilled. But the price is great. The Prince pays with his life and leaves a trail of bodies of loved ones behind him including his best friend, love, mother, uncle and more. The story is famous for revealing that a path for revenge is one of destruction. And a key to Hamlet's downfall is that in the time of William Shakespeare a ghost was seen as being directly from hell. Thus following the lead of this ghost would ultimately lead to destruction. It can be deduced that by following this ghoul from the pits of hell, Hamlet has unleashed hell upon Denmark and destroyed his life and the royal palace - a place that is considered sacred. Thus the argument of Hamlet's madness is one that must be maintained as he is from moment to moment choosing to act based on spiritual torment rather than from spiritual freedom within the realities of life.
