That's One Fickle Prince!

Throughout the course of Shakespeare's play, his main character Hamlet undergoes an apparent philosophical and spiritual development.
He faces a major worldview struggle from the very beginning which is set off by the appearance of the ghost and the ensuing commotion surrounding that event. The rational, educated Protestant student in him reasons away the possibility of the ghost's reality, maybe assuming that it is a demon; the Catholic influence in him attributes it to the process of Purgatory; the vengeful son in him hopes the ghost is real so as to confirm and excuse his hatred of Claudius; the scared little boy in him who defaults to folkloric stories pees his pants and screams, "Aah!! A Ghost!!" He also continually wrestles with the idea of suicide, wishing "that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon 'gainst self-slaughter." Here we see his very evident spiritual agitation. On top of this he is also trying to decide whether or not to kill Claudius, and the same differing "worldviews" push and pull him every which way about this one too. Thus Hamlet begins his philosophical and spiritual journey: utterly confused. As the play progresses, Hamelt becomes more and more cynical about religion. This is made evident, for example, when he suggests Claudius send a messenger to heaven to look for Polonius, and tells him if the messenger does not find him there to "seek him in the other place yourself." This flippant attitude about the afterlife shows a development in his spiritual and philosophical views. Ophelia's death also spurs in him thoughts of heaven and hell because she committed suicide - an act greatly looked down upon back then and terrible enough to forfeit proper Christian burial rights. Hamlet considers these concepts and events and turns toward a more naturalistic approach. He expresses this view in his speech about how all men die and turn to food for worms regardless of their life accomplishments, status, possessions, and even religious affiliations. This outlook is contradictory to his Protestant education and even the Catholic influence he's been surrounded with for years and shows a drastic shift in his character regarding his spiritual and philosophical convictions. Naturalism is expressed in Hamlet's famous skull scene as well because he connects someone he used to know with essentially becoming dirt just like everyone else. However, in Act 5 of the play, Hamlet demonstrates a final shift and the conclusion of his spiritual and philosophical development. He mentions providence a number of times, suggesting a move back toward the Christian view. Once he gets that nervous suspicion that his end was near, he made an effort to repent and apologize - something he wouldn't have done had he still been under the influence of his naturalistic craze. Horatio's final words consummate Hamlet's journey: "flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!" This shows that Horatio, the person who knew Hamlet the best, believes that he is on his way to heaven. Despite the roller coaster of a ride through various battlefields in grappling with worldview, Hamlet ultimately landed on the right note.