[2] Eliot begins the essay by stating that the primary problem of Hamlet is actually the play itself, with its main character being only a secondary issue.
Eliot wrote that due to their fixation on Hamlet rather than the play as a whole, the type of criticism that Coleridge and Goethe produced is "the most misleading kind possible".
He notes the differences between Hamlet and its supposed source material, pointing out that in the earlier works the only motive for murder is revenge, the delay of which is the result of circumventing the king's guards.
Eliot concludes this section by agreeing with Robertson's assertion that the hero of Hamlet is driven more by his mother's guilt than revenge for the father, and Shakespeare fell short in combining this altered motive with his source material.
The latter portion of the essay is dedicated to Eliot's criticism of Hamlet based on his concept of the objective correlative.
The madness of Shakespeare's character, according to Eliot, is a result of the inexpressible things that Hamlet feels and the playwright cannot convey.
It has been noted that if Eliot's intent was to focus his critique on the play, he could have titled his essay "Hamlet and Its Problems" instead.
[5][6] Although many critics credit Eliot's concept of the objective correlative, some take issue with his discussion of the subject in this essay.