Hamlet as the moral judge

Throughout the play we have seen him my act as a morally superior Individual, always judging the actions of others. Although he does have his own faults and is very self-aware of those faults as seen in his self pitying soliloquies, the focus is always on what others around him are doing wrong. From the murder of his father to the purity of Ophelia, Hamlet is consumed by his obsession with others sins. His preoccupation with their transgressions and the consequences that they must pay makes him seem like a judge or a priest. For example, he tells Ophelia "get thee to a nunnery", either meaning to go to a convent or a brothel. Either way, he is sentencing her to a consequence for living promiscuously. Even though it is not his place, Hamlet thinks he knows best what should be done. This is similar to the situation with his mother, Gertrude. After her husband's death, she quickly remarried Claudius, angering Hamlet because in his eyes this symbolized betrayal. Hamlet often refers to his mother's "incestuous sheets" and even advises his mother to "go not to [his] uncle's bed" (3.4.160). He tells her what to do and makes her heart heavy with guilt, all because he feels the need to condemn others, even though he is flawed himself. Hamlet was even present while Claudius confessed his sin of murdering the king, ironically acting like a priest who was hearing his confession. However, unlike a priest, Hamlet wants to not only kill Claudius, but he wants to damn him to an eternity in Hell, the opposite of what a priest helps an individual achieve. 

Hamlet constantly references God and heaven, and the play is filled with religious diction, yet his purpose seems to contradict his morals. First of all, his task was bestowed to him by a spirit from below, symbolically meaning Hell. This task is to murder his uncle, sending him to Hell in eternity. This seems like an evil task for someone who holds themself at such a high moral level. Perhaps that is the reason that Hamlet cannot find it within himself to carry out the act. While he does call himself a coward many times, the true reason that holds him back may be his unwillingness to fully abandon his values. To kill Claudius and damn him for an eternity would morally destroy him and go against everything he believes in. In fact, the reason he even wants revenge is because Claudius did the same exact thing. So while Hamlet does act like the moral judge for others, telling them what to do and how to pay for what they've done, he's hypocritical and fighting a moral battle within himself.  The battle between good in evil within him leaves him stagnant, unable to choose a purpose and act purposefully. He distracts himself and pretends that life is simply a game, where you can cleverly play everyone and speak in witty riddles, so that he doesn't have to deal with the fact that he has to make a decision. Whether Hamlet chooses to kill Claudius or not will be his choice of following good or evil, being moral or immoral.