] He steals the letter carried by R&G commanding his death and changes it, sending them to theirs. This one act of rashness, or passion, saves his life. Maybe he realizes that acting on your passions can sometimes be benificial? That every issues need not be thought to death? Maybe he also realizes that it is every man for himself?

Yes, I think Hamlet does change during the trip to England, but not necessarily for the better. One thing confuses me - maybe I got it wrong, but I understood that Claudius' letter was *sealed* and not to be opened until arrival, which meant that R&G didn't know what was in it either. So not only does Hamlet arrange for the death of two (admittedly former) friends, a big negative step in itself, but he doesn't know for sure how they would have reacted on finding out the contents of the letter. How does he know that they would have stood by and let him be killed? Maybe they would have tried to help him. So if I read this correctly, he now has the deaths of two semi-innocent people on his conscience - no wonder it's all downhill from there! :-)

P.S to Jezkalyn: I've been feeling slightly guilty about my summary dismissal of Horatio after your touching defence. I make no other promises, but I will borrow Branagh's Hamlet again and watch it paying special attention to Horatio. (I will! I will!) Maybe there's something about him that I missed...