Throughout humanity's existence, evolutionary processes have given rise to the innate human nature of seeking acceptance from others. As a result, an individual's life consists of a persistent tug-of-war between conformity and individualism, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Conformity inspires one to sacrifice one's personal desires to gain the acceptance of others, and individualism gives one the power to pursue personal desires at the risk of being shunned by society. The play Hamlet involves the similar journeys of Claudius, Hamlet and Ophelia, which highlight the struggle between one's aspiration to be accepted and individualism. Through the crisis that all of these characters are facing, William Shakespeare explores the idea of ​​conformity and the choice to pursue one's personal desires, and insinuates that strictly pursuing a single ideology generates an extremely powerful conflict that will ultimately lead to the self-destruction of an individual. Throughout the play, Claudius faces a entanglement between having dictatorial authority and doing what he wants, and listening to his reign to support his status. Claudius' main goal is to sustain his throne as the ruler of Denmark and he is willing to resort to any means to achieve his goal. However, due to the questionable circumstances that led Claudius to the throne, he is sometimes required to temporarily sacrifice his desires to raise his public appeal. At the beginning of the play, Claudius makes a speech to his courtiers, expressing his sorrow over the death of Old Hamlet. Furthermore, he shares the news of his marriage to Gertrude, the queen. Through the manipulative tone he uses during h...... middle of paper ......udius. Hamlet wanted to justify killing Claudius, which led to his lack of action throughout much of the play, even with all the evidence pointing to Claudius. As a result, he hastily murdered Polonius, which in turn led to his downfall at the end of the play. Taken together, each character's circumstances and their response to these circumstances vividly illustrate the conflict that exists between conformity and individualism. The events of the play, including Claudius's entanglement between asserting his power and listening to his nation, Hamlet's struggle between following his heart and conforming to what others reveal to him, and the plight of Ophelia between the search for love and the obedience of her family all illuminate the story. ideology according to which the conflict between following personal desires and conformity can lead to the death of an individual.