Mystery of Hamlet: A Solution

Hamlet kills Polonius thinking he is Claudius. Yet he cannot kill Claudius. Why? Hamlet, angry, tells Ophelia: Take thee to a nunnery! [nunnery: Renaissance slang for brothel] There [in Heaven] is no shuffling; there the action lies in his true nature, and we ourselves compelled, even to the teeth and forehead of our faults, to give in evidence. -King Claudius Why does Hamlet attend the German university at Wittenberg? Why study at a university at all? An incorrigible symbolist, Shakespeare must secretly import what he does not openly impart. Contrast resolute avenger Laertes, who would cut [Hamlet's] throat i' the church! Shakespeare understood the Freudian slip centuries before Dr. Freud in Vienna. Twice he employs it to give us hints. Queen Gertrude to her son Hamlet: What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murder me? ... Alas, he's mad! Prince Hamlet is a disillusioned idealist, a vital key to his generous, passionate, and tragically conscientious character. Camelot-Shakespeare specifically ties the assassination of Hamlet to the death of King Arthur and the collapse of the fellowship of the Round Table.