How Does Horatio Extract Information Form The Ghost?

This passage (ll. 46-58) comes from the beginning of act one of Hamlet and is a pivotal moment for Horatio. Up to this point, Horatio has denied the existence of ghost, despite the best efforts of Marcellus and Barnardo to persuade him otherwise. To prove they did not imagine this apparition, Marcellus and Barnardo invite Horatio to join them on their watch and witness the ghost for himself (ll. 23-29). When the ghost first appears to the men, Horatio is in a state of shock until he is prompted by Marcellus to question it (ll. 40-46). Horatio returns to reality and attempts to extract information form the ghost. Throughout this scene, Horatio’s part should be acted to demonstrate that he is extremely nervous and anxious to come face to face with an apparition. Marcellus and Barnardo’s actors, on the other hand, should be slightly excited, for they have

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. Horatio responds to the ghosts sudden retreat by again calling to it to speak to them, but it is too late, for as Marcellus observes, the spirit has disappeared without saying a word (l.