5.167-68). As Gwen Cuizon, published author and poet, says, Hamlet's questions tend to lead to more questions than answers. "To be, or not to be," " (3.1.57) is not only a question of suicide, but also a question of the afterlife, or "the undiscover'd country from whose bourn no traveler returns"" (3.1.80-81). Hamlet also views death as a way of escaping the perfidious tribulations in Denmark, "a consummation devoutly to be wish'd"" (3.1.64-65). However, the nescience of what comes after death, "puzzles the will, and makes [Hamlet] bear those ills [he has]"" (3.1.81-82). Hamlet also describes mortality as an eternal sleep, although dreams are, "the rub; for in that sleep what dreams may come, when [he has] shuffled off this mortal coil" (3.1.64-66). He is fearful of what choices or actions may come back to torment him, in these dreams for an eternity, if he takes revenge on immoral people, or does not. .
The characters of this play contribute to Hamlet's calamity, indecision, and desire for vengeance. The three main characters that consistently do so are Claudius, Gertrude and the ghost of Hamlet's late father. Each of their demeanors and actions are factors in Hamlet's overall depressive state. Claudius, the murderer and brother of the late king, treats Hamlet's sorrow as, "impious stubbornness [an] unmanly grief: it shows a will most incorrect to heaven"" (1.2.94-95). After killing his brother and seizing the throne, Claudius employs spies to report on Hamlet's state of mind. He suspects that Hamlet might overtake the throne the same way he did, by murder. He sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two close friends of Hamlet, to account "which dreams indeed are [his] ambition; for the very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream" (2.2.257-59). Claudius's greed, deceitfulness and fear of death add a heavy weight to Hamlet's mind and distress. Claudius's wife, Gertrude, also initiates heartbreak within Hamlet.
