You make a good point about tradition, this is one of the plays we read in high school and is, as we are assigned it now, still discussed academically as a mechanism to address the major themes of the play; that we can never really be certain of many questions of moral significance, the idea that actions have consequences and it is impossible to foresee all outcomes of our actions, the moral fiber of the family and its reflection on society and finally death and the unknown of the afterlife.
I think you are you are correct that the audience can relate to Hamlet and sees what he does as similar to what they may do if in the same situation, but there are times in the play that we can see the actions and counteraction where that characters in