Hamlet is such a self-tortured individual, the only thing keeping him from taking the easy way out is his fear of the unknown and the consequences of going against his faith and having to face an eternity worse than the life he is living. His life is a series of passionate outbursts and emotionally driven scenes where he is so trapped between his longing to be right and fear his own madness that he looses control of his thoughts and must talk himself through his mental episode.
One part of Hamlet desires an instant calm to all the raging storms of his life: his love for Ophelia, hatred for his Uncle and his pain as he saw his mother move on so quickly from his father. He wants to put to rest the turmoil inside him, "no more- and by sleep to say we end The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to." In his eyes death has to be better than all the pain that life carries with it.
However, in his cry for an escape from this drama he analyzes the possible negative endings that death could bring. The fear of the unknown takes hold, as he considers his beliefs; perhaps there is something greater to fear after death that would be eternally more terrible than life. Hamlet needs to look beyond his imediate focuses on revenge and hatred and see beyond it all there is hope and chance for wrong to be made right. To expose his uncle for the murderer that he is, and see the look of guilt and shame cross his face as he watches his very murder on stage. So he can also see the pain that has kept Hamlet in agony for too long, and so Hamlet can have the closure of knowing that the ghost was right.
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