I needed to write an essay on how Hamlet is a hypocrite and my three points were that he doesn't obey his father right away, he says he loves his mother but treats her badly, and he says he loves Ophelia but he is the cause of her madness.

Question

But now, my topic has been changed to how Hamlet's participation in hypocrisy is destructive towards his relationships. I can still use my last two points, but I need to know how I can change the first point about his father or replace it.

You might think about replacing it with how his friendship with Laertes changed during the play. At first, they were friends (friends from childhood), but at the end they were battling each other in a deadly swordfight.

=)

But was it ever said during the course of the play that Laertes was a childhood friend of his? His childhood friends were Rosencrantz and Guildenstern...and he had them executed. But how can I attribute any of these towards him being a hypocrite?

Then stick with the ideas about his father. His father's ghost told him about the murder and demanded revenge. Was Hamlet sure that was the ghost of his father? Or maybe it was some devil that took on the form of his father? For whatever reason, Hamlet disobeyed the ghost and didn't seek revenge immediately.

Choose your own topic. Write about what you understand and what interests you.