Hamlet's Advice

What can Hamlet elucidate for us on life? As he says "every man hath business and desire"- he acknowledges that his story is just one man's story; but this is representative of every man, since every man has a story. Hamlet is an every man story, although his story is specific. Shakespeare takes his story and makes it into an allegory for all the issues we each ma go through. The famous to be or not to be soliloquy is a perfect example of this: Hamlet asks why we should go through the pain and strife of life if we could eaxily make our own death. What is our motivation to live amid so much suffering? This is a fundamental question to human nature- by being each day we are choosing to live; this is not an insignificant choice. Hamlet, though, has his own purpose, his own drive- he is living for revenge. He is almost a self-proclaimed martyr, wallowing in the injustice he feels is his duty to make right.
What's interesting is that Shakespeare allos a peek into most of the characters' attitudes and concerns. Especially the antagonist Polonius. He questions the worth of his repentance, a repentance ornamented with the paraphenalia of his sin: crown, throne, wife. It is on the same issue that these two characters are struggling; yet they have different responses. They both recognize the difficulty of living especially with malicious deeds afoot. Hamlet asks the very sme question asked by Everyman: why was I ever brought into existence? Of couse, we must rememeber: though Hamlet struggles with issues that are universal, his story is quite specific and not all of us feel anguish at being alive.