In the play, Hamlet Sr. is killed by his brother, Claudius (Hamlet Jr.'s uncle). This act is carried out for one of two, or a combination of the following reasons: Claudius wanted to be the king or he was in love with Gertrude (Hamlet Jr.'s mother). The reason for the killing does not, however affect Cluadius's translation of the constructed reality. His translation is: "Hey I'm the king, Hey Gertrude is my wife, Hey life is great! Oh yeah, sorry 'bout your dad Hamlet. Kay, move on" Claudius is killed by Hamlet Jr. as a result of the constructed reality.
Gertrude's translation of the constructed reality differs from that of Claudius because we know that she feels guilty about what has transpired. It is hard to determine exactly how Gertrude translates the constructed reality for herself for most of the play. The only time we know what is reallly going on in her head is when Hamlet Jr. confronts her and she displays a great amount of guilt and regret. Based on the information gained from this section of the play, Gertrudes translation of the constructed reality is, "Im Queen, my Brother in law killed my husband. I must marry him to keep my status and keep my son's claim to the throne. My Son is CRAZY!"
Hamlet's translation of the constructed reality is much different from anyone else's. Hamlet takes the death of his father harder than anyone else in the play. He also despises the fact that his mother married his uncle, even before he knows that it was him who killed his father. Hamlet's translation of the constructed reality is "Oh I am so sad that my father died. Oh I amso pissed that my mom married my Uncle. And so fast! Oh my god, my uncle killed my dad. I must act crazy while I out a way to know for sure that Claudius killed my dad. Okay he definatley killed my dad. Okay I am going to kill him now. Oh no wait, hell go to heaven, I'll kill him after he sins. I need to confront my mother. WHOA!! Who is that *STAB*. Oops. Whatever. Okay so now these people are going to put there lives on the line for a worthless piece of land? I gotta get my ass in gear. Oh my god Ophelia is dead, I am so sad. Now I duel Laertese. Oh I was cut. Whatever. TAKE THAT! Now on to Claudius. YES! I KILLED HIM! Now I can die."
In its entirety, the family unit in "Hamlet" does not seem to be very important, although there are examples of it being important to idividuals. This is akin to one person on a basketball team not knowing a play, so while everyone else knows what they are doing, they cannot execute because of one acception. The acception in the play is Claudius (and to a lesser extent, Hamlet Sr., if the ghost was really him for reasons outlined in......The outline.). Hamlet Sr.'s brother shows that the family unit doesnt mean enough for him to let it get in the way of his ambitions, by murdering his brother to get the throne as well as (possibly) Gertrude.
Gertrude seems to hold the family unit in high regard, as can be seen when she ensures Hamlet Jr.'s claim to the throne as well as when we find out how much she regrets what has happened in terms of Hamlet Sr.. It is also intresting to note the possibillity of Gertrude trying to sacrifice herselfe for Hamlet Jr.. In the final scene of the play, Gertrude drinks poisoned wine intended for Hamlet and then tells him not to drink it because its poisoned.
Finally, the family unit is undoubtably most important to hamlet Jr.. Anybody who read the play could deduce this by observing the fact that hamlet was willing to see his life end in order to exact revenge upon the one who broke his family unit (Claudius).
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