From the very beginning of the drama, a ghost walks the parapet of Elsinore Castle in Denmark and asks for Hamlet for revenge. Horatio, a friend of Hamlet, saw a ghost who resembled the dead king of Denmark who wanted to take revenge of his unlawful death. His brother Claudius not only inherited the throne illegally by killing his own blood brutally and got married the widow queen, Gertrude to save the throne. Claudius was a power monger and he got that by hook or crook.
In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the Ghost's use of cynical diction and vicious imagery in his speech emphasizes his contempt for Claudius and Gertrude, aligning the reader with Hamlet's vengeful feelings towards them. The Ghost's description of Claudius as "incestuous" and Gertrude as a seemingly-virtuous queen creates a negative perception of them in the reader's mind. The imagery of the serpent and garbage used by the Ghost reinforces this negative perception, creating a vivid picture of Claudius and Gertrude's actions that aligns the reader with Hamlet's disdain for them. Act 1, scene 5 of Shakespeare's Hamlet is Prince Hamlet's first encounter with his deceased father who exists between the borders of life and death, presenting himself as a ghost
This is explained by the Ghost when Hamlet learns of his father being murdered in Act 1 Scene 5, in lines 35 -39, “’Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard, A serpent stung me. So the whole ear of Denmark Is by a forged process of my death Rankly abused. But know, thou noble youth, The serpent that did sting thy father’s life . Now wears his crown.” 2) The soliloquies that Hamlet provides over the sequence of the entire play allows us to distinguish what Hamlet was thinking about and display how he was losing his sanity.
In his first soliloquy, he expresses his intense grief and inner conflict of wanting to commit suicide but not wanting to be punished by God. From this the audience can infer one of Hamlet’s fatal flaws; he is indecisive. He is constantly searching for certainty, since he is unable to make decisions without it. Although Hamlet is wary of the story given to the public to explain the King’s sudden death, it is not until the ghost confirms his suspicions and he uncovers the truth that he vows to “Remember thee!”. He suspects foul play was involved, yet he never acts on this uncertainty until certainty is provided for him.
The Ghost says," a serpent stung me says the whole ear of Denmark... The serpent that did sting thy fathers life now wears his crown"(1.5.43-44, 46-47). The Ghost talks about how the country of Denmark had been fed a twisted story of the truth. A metaphor can be found in the second part of the quote. Ghost Hamlet compared Claudius to a snake because of his lying and deceitfulness.
One of the major themes in the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, is deception. In Act I Scene IV, one of the characters, Marcellus, claims: “Something is rotten in the State of Denmark” (1.4.100). This is referring to the act of deception, where everything may look fine to the naked eye, but there are underlying problems occurring in the state of Denmark. In utilizing diction and metaphors, Shakespeare adds more depth to one of the major themes of the play. Metaphors are used by Shakespeare to compare Claudius to a deathly creature, while nobody realizes his mal intentions.
Denmark goes from being infected by weeds and the serpent, Claudius, to being considered a fresh plate of dirt where the Garden can be replanted and pure once again. Denmark will be able to return to its former glory, a pure and powerful state. To both Hamlet and his dad, Denmark is an equivalent to Paradise, which in turn causes them to speak like Denmark
In the third act of the play, the dead king 's ghost appears before Hamlet again. However, this time only Hamlet sees him. When the ghost appears, Hamlet and his mother have the following conversation, “HAMLET: How is it with you, lady? GERTRUDE: Alas, how is ’t with you, That you do bend your eye on vacancy And with th ' incorporal air do hold discourse?
“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” (Act 1 Scene 5 line 90). Corruption, if left unchecked, will continue to spread, shattering the social order. This is true in William Shakespeare’s, Hamlet. Greed and the thirst for power become the invitation for corruption.
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
Throughout the play, suicide is mention by Hamlet and the suicide that he mentions is something that is related with death and decay. The prime idea of this play is about a mystery of death which then causes revenge. This prime idea then lead every single action of Hamlet throughout the play as, his action mostly is in order to seek revenge for the death of his death father, King of Denmark. Hamlet’s father appears to Hamlet as a ghost and tells him that he was murdered by Claudius.
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).
The most common answer to the question has always been that the ghost is the spirit of the dead king Hamlet, returning to comfort his grieving young son left inconsolable by his loss and to provide answers for
King Hamlet’s ghost in Hamlet plays a very significant role in Shakespeare’s play even though he only appears briefly in the very beginning and two other times throughout the play. King Hamlet’s ghost furthers the play in many ways. He affects action by setting the play in motion, he affects the theme of revenge, and he helps develop other characters, specifically his son, Hamlet. He sets the play in motion by causing the wheels to spin inside of Prince Hamlet’s head, the ghost is the whole reason for Hamlet trying to extract revenge upon his murderous Uncle Claudius who is now the King of Denmark. The ghost affects the theme of revenge by causing Young Hamlet to be seized by vengeance, the whole play turns into a story of Prince Hamlet trying to avenge his father’s wrongful death.
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.
