We are experiencing in the first act, that the father's ghost is haunting Hamlet and is telling, him that he was assassinated by his traitorous brother, who poured poison into his ear, while he was sleeping peacefully in his garden. Afterwards, the murderer succeeded in taking over the victims throne by marrying the widowed queen. Thus it is enough to avenge: a fratricide is under all circumstances a terrible crime. Hereafter comes to a sexual relationship, which after the past's morals was considered incest. And worst of all: there is talking about a regicide, which for an Elizabanther was a sacrilege. 

But ”the rat” behind the tapestry is not the king himself, only his loyal henchman, Polonius, who even is the father of two people, who a very close to Hamlet: his friend Laertes and his beloved Ophelia. King Claudius is a master of plots and immediately takes advantage of the situation to his own benefit. Leartes now becomes Hamlet's bitter enemy, and Ophelia goes insane and dies out of grief at the unsolvable conflict, which is the result of the would-be heroic deed. The question is now, whether Hamlet is an anti-hero, a poor killer, or if his destiny demonstrates that violence on its own is a bad solution.