How old is Hamlet??

As we have been reading Hamlet in class the same question has been in my mind from the start. While reading I have gotten the impression that Hamlet is an intelligent young man not to far off from a kid my age, however, when we watched clips from the film he seems much older than that. Although the director has a lot of freedom with the play, in both versions we have watched the actors playing Hamlet were middle aged men. Like grey hair and everything. This was interesting because in the play itself Hamlet seems so much younger.

    First of all Hamlet is trying to go back to school which to me indicates that he is a young adult around nineteen or twenty. Claudius says to him while holding court, “For your intent,/In going back to school in Wittenburg,/It is most retrograde to our desire”(1. 2. 112-114). It is against Claudius’s and Gertrude’s will for Hamlet to return to school in Wittenburg. If he is returning to school it would be fitting that he is a young man. Which is why I am confused with the actors chosen to play the role in the movies.

   My second reason to believe he is so young is that Hamlet is still working on his relationship with his mother. He is very protective of her and still almost argues with her as a young man may. He is not naïve however, he and his mother seem to be still developing their relationship and an older middle aged man would already have this figured out.

   Lastly I get the impression that Hamlets relationship with Ophelia further characterizes him as a young man. Because her father is so involved with relationship it seems that he treats her as a child making her seem young. They way he treats her makes her seem young so in turn Hamlet seems young (assuming Hamlet is not a pimp? But I don’t know.) . Polonius speaks to Ophelia about her relationship with Hamlet and says “ ‘affection?’ Pooh, you speak like a green girl,/Unsifted in such perilous circumstance./ Do you believe his ‘tenders,’ as you call them?” (1. 3. 100-103). He calls her a “green girl” in other words an inexperienced girl which denotes to naïve or young. The way  that Polonius approaches Hamlet and Ophelia’s relationship reminds me of how a protective father may look at his daughters first boyfriend. This again makes it seem as if they are a young couple and Hamlet is a young man.

   I am hoping as the play progresses my question will be answered. There is currently a disconnect in the transition from the play to the movie which confuses my perception of Hamlets character. I believe this is a highly debated question in the play but as of now I am confused as to why he is portrayed as older in the film version of the play.