Act 1, Scene 1: “Let us impart what we have seen tonight Unto young Hamlet, for, upon my life, This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him” (Crowther 16). I think this quote really sets up things for the next act, and the rest of the play. The ghost would not talk to them, so they decided to tell Hamlet about the ghost because they felt it would talk to him. This sets up Hamlet to discover the ghost who is his late father, and learn about his murder. Act 1, Scene 2: “Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief, That can denote me truly” (Crowther 24).
In Act 2.1 of Hamlet, it starts off with Reynaldo and Polonius conversating about a trip Reynaldo is going to take. Polonius is wanting Reynaldo to gather information from this trip about Danksers wanting to know, according to line 6, says, "Inquire me first what Danksers are in Paris; And how, and who, what means, and where they keep..."(Line 6). This quote demonstrates what Polonius is wanting from Reynaldo to gather information about and what specifically he wants when he comes back. Later on in Act 2.1, Reynaldo and Polonius's conversation ends and Reynaldo leaves the scene while Ophelia enters. She enters the scene scared and "affrighted" from something which she explains to be Hamlet.
He begins by questioning who the ghost is and why it has come in the form of the dead king of Denmark (ll. 46-49). In line 46, Horatio uses the term “usurp’st,” which, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is defined as “[taking] the place of someone in a position of power illegally”(Oxford English Dictionary, 2015). This demonstrates that Horatio does not believe that this apparition is the spirit of Hamlet’s father, for he accuses the ghost of stealing the form of the king. Following this accusation, Marcellus states that the spirit seems offended by what Horatio as said and Barnardo points out that it begins to walk away (ll. 50-51). When delivering these lines, the actors of Marcellus and Barnardo should sound concerned, for they would like to figure out what this apparition is before taking the news of it to Hamlet.
A few soldiers on guard report to him that his father’s ghost has been seen, and he sees the ghost when he goes with them the next night. The ghost tells him that his uncle killed him to get his crown and his wife, and makes Hamlet swear to avenge his death. Hamlet decides to pretend to be
In Act 1 a few of the watchmen seen a ghost. They then brought Prince Hamlet into the scene to look. The ghost claims to be King Hamlet’s spirit.
The reader first suspects something is amiss in Hamlet when the opening characters speak of being visited by an apparition. However, what is alarming is that the apparition is "In the same figure, like the king that's dead" (I.i.41). It is assumed that the presence of a ghost on earth signifies that some factor is keeping the spirit of whomever died from attaining final peace. This assumption is solidified when
In Act 1, “all is not well” in Denmark as there are unnatural occurrences as well as a new king , Claudius, being inaugurated which creates uncertainty and unrest for Denmark. One unnatural occurrence is the watchman claiming to have seen the apparition of the late King Hamlet in armour. The three watchmen were on duty on a dark winter’s night -a sense of uncertainty and tension was in the atmosphere. Here they encountered the ghost and soon identified it as King Hamlet.
The ghost of Hamlet first appeared while the guards, Marcellus and Bernardo, were on guard late at night. Initially, they were unaware that the ghost was of King Hamlet, despite the similar appearance. From this point on, Hamlet’s mindset and motives would be altered for the remainder of the play. Hamlet stood on guard the following evening in hopes of seeing the ghost himself. Once the ghost appeared, Hamlet’s spiral into insanity began as he said “O, answer me!
The ghost of Hamlet’s father later appears on the battlements of the castle before a group of guards, who then summon Hamlet to speak with the spirit. The Ghost leads Hamlet away from the guards and informs him that he was murdered by his brother Claudius, the new King. The knowledge imparted from the ghost causes Hamlet to go mad and form a plot to kill the King, “which even in Elizabethan times was not allowed by law or religion…”
The ghost also reveals that his death was no accident and was murdered by his brother Claudius and should be revenged. These events challenged Hamlet and cast’s a burden to his moral faith. Hamlet decides to not act quickly with his plans of revenge considering there was no evidence to prove that Claudius killed his
After the king Hamlet died, his ghost still appeared in different places of the play. The ghost wanted to talk to his son Hamlet to tell him all the truth about what happened before he died. The first thing that he said was that he did not died by a snake bite, but killed by his brother Claudius. The ghost told Hamlet to take revenge of Claudius. The second thing that the ghost told Hamlet was that he should do no harm to his mother, even though she married her husband’s murderer.
First, King Hamlet’s ghost affects action when he first appears in the play. When he first appears, he doesn’t even speak. When he finally does speak, he only talks to his son, Prince Hamlet. The ghost says, “I am thy father’s spirit… Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (1.5.9,25 Hamlet).
It has been argued by many literary critics that the ghost is a figment of Hamlet`s imagination, despite Barnardo, Mercutio and Horatio witnessing it before the prince, potentially indicating that it is real because three level headed characters view it first. However, the characters are hesitant about the ghost with Marcellus insisting that they “question it “whilst Barnardo seems to believe “its` not something more than fantasy” which creates uncertainty about the figure`s identity. Many events over the course of the play indicate Hamlet`s fragile state of mind and how the ghost is only present in his thoughts. For example, the prince`s obsession with his mother`s infidelity could be a reason for the ghost instructing him to murder Claudius.
The ghost’s appearance has a significant impact on Hamlet’s behaviors and forms his decisions through the play. Hamlet, who is suffering from depression since he is dealing with his father’s death and the hasty marriage of his mother with Claudius, his uncle, became obsessed with the concept of life and death after seeing his father’s ghost. In the first appearance of the ghost, he reveals the truth about the how the king has been murdered, which drives Hamlet to seek revenge, and by revenge killing his uncle. The ghost establishes a dilemma and gives Hamlet time to think about his father’s request. But Hamlet has an uncertainty about the existence of the ghost as he notes “the spirit that I have seen may be the devil, and the devil hath power T ' assume a pleasing shape” (2.2.561–563) here, Hamlet is concerned that the ghost may be the devil and questions the motivation of the ghost for killing Claudius.
Or it can be seen as the ghost being some type of evil spirit trying to destroy hamlet through bad advice. The ghost is simply trying to free its spirit from purgatory and not trying to destroy hamlet, this is evident due to the fact that we know that Claudius killed Hamlet’s father in cold blood before he could pray for his sins. The ghosts role in the play is to tell Hamlet how he truly died. The nature in which the ghost appears in the play changes from appearance to appearance.
