What aspect of Hamlet's situation seems to bother him the most?

Answer 1

Claudius was elected King instead of Hamlet. Denmark in the play does not have primogeniture (automatic succession of the eldest son.)

There's nothing in the play that explicitly identifies why the electors chose Claudius. Interpretation is required on that point.

Gertrude's influence was undoubtedly important, since she had been Queen for so long. Her marriage to Claudius was an obvious endorsement of Claudius. It's clear enough that Gertrude married Claudius before the election.

Answer 2

Although it isn't explicit in the play, at first Hamlet probably accepts the coroner's verdict of snakebite. After Hamlet hears the Ghost, who tells him that Claudius murdered his father, Hamlet changes his mind. However, Hamlet doesn't fully accept the Ghost's word until after Claudius reacts to the 'Mousetrap' play.

Answer 3

Three things are easy to identify:

1. His genuine grief at the loss of his father,

2. His resentment of his mother's behavior in marrying Claudius,

3. His disappointment at not becoming King.

His grief, and being upset with his mother, seem to bother him more than not becoming King, though.

Answer 4

"Tis sweet and commendable in your nature Hamlet to give these mourning duties to your father. But you must know, your father lost a father, that father lost, lost his, and the Survivor bound in filial obligation for some term to do obsequious sorrow. But to persever in obstinate condolement is a course of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief. It shows a will most incorrect to heaven."

Answer 5

He is most perturbed by the fact that his mother has remarried. You will note that this is the topic of his first soliloquy, "O that this too too solid flesh should melt." And again in the closet scene, he begins to totally lose it when berating her. His father? Meh. He cannot get worked up about him, but his mother is another story.