Very unfortunate time of life for Hamlet (7)
I believe the answer is:
village
'for hamlet' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'very unfortunate time of life' is the wordplay.
'very' becomes 'v' (abbreviation).
'unfortunate' becomes 'ill' (similar in meaning).
'time of life' becomes 'age' (age is a kind of time of life).
'v'+'ill'+'age'='VILLAGE'
(Other definitions for village that I've seen before include "Settlement smaller than a town" , "Small group of dwellings" , "Large hamlet" , "little place" , "Small community" .)