Hamlet lives in a society where the church forbids vengeance, however personal honour often overcomes the ecclesiastical law. He is a man of great contradictions, being reckless yet cautious and tender yet ferocious.

Hamlet's cultural identity causes conflict between his two primary duties. As the son of Old Hamlet, it is Hamlet's duty to avenge his father's murder yet as a citizen and Prince it is also his duty to protect the king and keep stability in society. Because it is Claudius, the King, whom Hamlet would need to kill in order to fulfil his duty to his father, a tension is created as to which duty should take precedence. Hamlet's essential dilemma, and perhaps something that the modern men in the audience would be able to relate to, is the conformation between duty and morality, courage and fear.

The Ghost, claiming to be the spirit of Old...