Can nothing be something? Or can something turn into nothing? Shakespeare would like the reader to believe that both things are possible. A person can be something and "nothing", as exemplified when Ophelia asks Hamlet "What is my Lord?" and Hamlet replies "Nothing." (3.2.109,111) Shakespeare uses “nothing” in multiple ways in his tragic play “Hamlet.” “Nothing” becomes a way for the reader to draw parallels between young Hamlet and his slain father. Young Hamlet's use of the word "nothing" consistently borders on the realm of something. However, “nothing” is more than a simple lack of something, “nothing” is the catalyst that allows the reader to see the coalescence that exists between Hamlet and his father. The first mention of "nothing" is in a conversation between Rosencrantz and young Hamlet. Young Hamlet explains to Rosencrantz why he feels Denmark is a prison: "For then it is not for you; for there is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so; for me it is a prison." (2.2.246) King Hamlet believes that Claudius killed him to take his throne. Young Hamlet's father is in a "prison". Therefore, Shakespeare suspends King Hamlet in a place halfway between a living being and heaven; he walks the earth like an apparition. The Hamlets think so and therefore for them "it is so". Both Hamlets have lost their thrones and now seek revenge. Likewise, both King Hamlet and Young Hamlet turned their perceptions into reality. The next time "nothing" appears, Young Hamlet is referring to the player's ability to fake anxiety. Young Hamlet exclaims with surprise that the actor can evoke so much anguish out of "nothing". A broken voice, and all its function suited... to the center of the paper... New Cambridge Shakespeare edn, edited by Philip Edwards. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Vickers, Brian. 1993. Appropriating Shakespeare: Contemporary Critical Disputes. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.Watson, Robert N. 1990. “Giving Up the Ghost in a Decaying World: Hamlet, Revenge, and Denial.” Renaissance Drama 21:199-223. Wright, George T. 1981. “Hendiadys and Hamlet.” PMLA 96:168-193.Shakespeare, William. The tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark. New York: Washington Square Press, 1992Weiten, Wayne. Psychology: Themes and Variations, Fourth Edition. Boston: Brooks/Cole Publishing Co., 1998Fowler, Alastair. 1987. "The Comedies in Hamlet's Play." In "Opinions Fanned and Sifted": Shakespearean Essays Presented to Harold Jenkins, edited by John W. Mahon and Thomas A. Pendleton. London and New York: Methuen.