Introduction William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet has been explored from a wide variety of angles, particularly in terms of his level of sanity and in what it means to be a tragic hero. One area in which the play is not often studied is in the area of Hamlet’s existing relationships with the adults around him, particularly those adults who have adopted, in some way, a parental role toward him. In this play, the young prince of Denmark is informed by the ghost of his father that his Uncle Claudius, now married to Hamlet’s mother, murdered his father with poison. The death of his father, the actions of his mother and his existing relationship with his uncle all have Hamlet confused regarding the true nature of the world. What he thought he once knew has been proven false and he is unable to discover what or who to believe. To discover the truth, Hamlet creates a plan in which he’ll act insane, but he also remains uncertain of his mental stability. By exploring the evidence of the relationships he shares with those individuals who have adopted a parental role, Claudius, King Hamlet, and Gertrude, it is possible to discover why Hamlet seems so confused throughout the play as his foundational belief in human beings has been torn out from beneath him. Hamlet’s character description When the play opens, Hamlet appears to be an intelligent young man who is maybe a little spoiled. He is aware of his duties as a prince and a son and he had once a bright future ahead of him as his father was king of Denmark. At the same time, he is quickly associated with the idea of a rebellious child. His first spoken words in the play, “a little more than kin, and less than kind!” (I, ii), are spoken in an aside to himself, indicating the disdain in which he holds his uncle, also his new step-father. Responding to his uncle, his next words, “Not so, my lord. I am too much in the sun” (I, ii), demonstrate his ability to turn a phrase and indicates the degree to which Hamlet has found it necessary to hide his true self behind flippant replies. In his attempt to catch the guilty conscience of a king, Hamlet “places an inordinate importance on doing and knowing perfectly; throughout most of his experience, he also places the responsibility for that knowledge and that doing solely on himself” (Hassel, 1994: 610) such as when he writes new lines for the Mousetrap play. “Suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with this special observance, that you overstep not the modesty of nature. For anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as ‘twere, the mirror up to nature, to show virtue her feature, scorn her image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure” (III, ii, 16-23). In these care instructions to the players, it can be seen that Hamlet does not want them to perform a simple play, but instead wants it to be as realistic as possible. However, he is also already well-aware of his own mistrustful bias of Claudius and perhaps is attempting to assure himself that he is not simply creating reasons to commit regicide. Claudius’ family fidelity is not so narrowly defined as Hamlet’s. Following the play, the king immediately prepares to send Hamlet away with two of his most trusted guards to England but with no intention of allowing Hamlet to live