Why Is Hamlet A Villain

We first encounter the character of Hamlet in Act 1 Scene 2 when he enters the court along with Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius, Laertes and Ophelia. He is dressed all in black. He is described as being gloomy, morose and still grieving the death of his father, who had died two months before.
In Hamlet the casual viewer will identify Claudius as the villain and while it is true that he is a villainous character, Hamlet himself is the villain. How can I say such a thing? That is easy Hamlet is a villain because while he is acting to avenge his father’s death, he is willing to sacrifice anyone he has to get his revenge. Of course, one can argue that Claudius intentionally killed old Hamlet, which makes him a far better nominee for villain then

So he is a villain not because he intended to do harm but because he is willing to use people as collateral damage as long as he achieves his goal. In order to convince the court of Denmark that he is indeed insane he walks around taking to himself, being cryptic and cruel and he basically calls Ophelia a whore when they are watching the play together. ___________. Then he goes and stabs Ophelia’s father Polonius, just because he happened to be in the wrong

He sought to avenge the death of his father, thus giving his father justice. However, Hamlet’s quest for vengeance did not allow him to remain a righteous character, but instead turned him into a villain.
Claudius who is seen as the villain is only responsible for the death of one person, while Hamlet is responsible for numerous. He kills three himself, causes Ophelia to commit suicide, arranges the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, forces Claudius to drink poison even though he is already dying from a poisoned sword wound. So while Hamlet is justified in wanting to extract revenge for the death of his father he was not justified in the amount of deaths that he caused either directly or indirectly.
In a way there was never another route for Hamlet to take but villainy. This is because a heroic character would have challenged Claudius to a duel and quickly avenged his father’s death. Hamlet does not do this, instead he feigns madness with the intent of getting Claudius to admit his guilt. This seems really pointless. The ghost of his father has accused Claudius of his murder and if Hamlet believes that he has spoken to the ghost of his father and his father has revealed to him the cause of his death. Why then must Hamlet seek proof, but that he is unable to take action. This is important because while it may appear that the deaths of others in the play are collateral damage, they may have actually been