Lavater Micro Essay: The Ghost’s Evil Intentions in Hamlet Shakespeare incorporates the ghost to allow for further progressions in the plot and to provide information that sets up the central tension of the play, however only the audience understands the ghosts intentions, which leaves Hamlet out of the loop. The audience is able to arrive at the conclusion that the ghost is real and evil by incorporating the ideals of Lewes Lavater’s “Of Ghosts and Spirits Walking by Night” in their analysis. The ghost brings Hamlet deep into his world of disruption when he addresses that it is Claudius that murders him, and he offers no comfort to Hamlet when he requests him to avenge his death. The audience acknowledges Lavater’s
A ghost appears and reveals to Hamlet that his father has been killed and he must seek revenge. Everyone thought that Hamlet had lost his mind because of his actions, but Hamlet insisted on upholding the rights of his father, who was killed. Hamlet was very brave and followed his own instincts, even if he was independent from others, so his position was to stand against the crowd, such as his mother, his uncle, his friends, and the lord of court Polonius, and he sought to discover the truth and bring those who killed his father to
In Hamlet, William Shakespeare uses the ghost as a messenger to inform Hamlet about the truth behind his father’s death and command him to seek revenge, which causes tension, creates a gloomy atmosphere and sets the plots into motion. Four centuries later, these purposes are evidently shown in Kenneth Branagh’s depiction of the ghost by his effective use of film techniques. In the film, Branagh accurately illustrates the scene of the ghost without leaving any details from Shakespeare’s original text, but also incorporates his own interpretation. Earlier in the play, Hamlet expresses his longing for confronting the dead king after he was informed of that his father has returned as a ghost.
In the beginning of the play ‘Hamlet’, the lead character Hamlet is approached by a ghost; something that people in the Elizabethan Era believed, due to underdeveloped scientific understanding, to be in the realm of reality. (“British Library” par. 3) The ghost in the play claims to be Hamlet's father and informs Hamlet of a great injustice and instructs him to take revenge. (Hamlet 1.5.45)
Hamlet 's encounter with the ghost makes him decide what his plan is and how his father wants him to avenge his death by killing king claudius. The audience nor the readers of the play really understand what is going on inside hamlets mind. He could have possibly already thought about how he was gonna deceive everyone so that he would be able to carry out his plan. The death of hamlet’s father was really hard on hamlet for he was the only one who actually cared and loved Villezcas 2 his father. Gertrude and everyone else did not care for the sudden death of hamlet 's father.
Throughout the play Hamlet most of the conflict comes from Hamlet's internal struggle of deciding whether he should trust the words and appearance of the ghost of his father. Just like a student trying to finish an essay, his procrastination has made him more eager to carry out the act but that dire obligation he so badly wants to fulfill can't be done without any sound proof that he strives to find. This comes to show Hamlet's inability to trust the Ghost because he didn't believe that the existence of the ghost of his father would be possible, he believed that the apparition might be a devil trying to lure him in to committing an unjustified act, and he needed to rely on Claudius’s reaction to the play to validate his trust with the Ghost. At the start of the play, Hamlet is awestruck and dubious about the Ghost because during his first meeting with the apparition, he was so stunned of the supernatural sighting that he felt skeptical if it was even possible for such an episode to happen.
So the next night Hamlet stands watch with the guards and Horatio hoping to get a glance at the ghost. Just like the nights before the “ghost” appears before the men. It doesn’t speak, but beckons for Hamlet to follow. Only after defying his friends Hamlet chases after the ghost and it is then that the ghost speaks to him. Curiously though the ghost has never spoken to any other member in the play except Hamlet, and after the first night no one can see the ghost only hamlet himself.
When Hamlet addresses him to find the purpose of his appearance the ghost explains he has returned to earth because he has a solemn purpose i.e to avenge his death. The ghost conforms to popular superstition by demonstrating his fear
In various stories and plays, characters who only have a short role are often the most important. In thr play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, King Hamlet 's ghost appeared momentarily but was a vital character for the play/ King Hamlet 's ghost is a crucial character because although he only appears briefly three times, his actions and remarks contribute to the conclusion of the play. In King Hamlet 's first appearance was while two guards, Barnardo and Marcellus were on patrol late at night at saw a ghostly figure. The two guards bring this to the attention of Prince Hamlet and explain how the ghost looks familiar to the late King Hamlet. The next night Prince Hamlet joins the two guards on their patrol at midnight hoping to see the
Hamlet states, “ The spirit that I have seen, may be the devil, and the devil hath power, T’ assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps, out of my weakness and my melancholy, as he is very potent with such spirits, abuses me to damn me” (II.ii.627-632). The ghost resembles his father and leaves Hamlet confused and concerned. From the quote in the play, Hamlet believes that the ghost could possibly be the devil trying to persuade him into evil to continue his suffering. He also believes the ghost is targeting him because of his suffering; making him more vulnerable to evil. After numerous interactions between Hamlet and the ghost, the ghost reveals that he is Hamlet’s father.
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).
Hamlet is one of the most memorable Shakespearean plays due to the focus on a young prince`s struggle with obeying the ghostly figure that we witness briefly on stage. The ghost is certainly an important figure in shaping the outcome of this revenge tragedy. Thus, we must ponder what is the ghost and how it can be interpreted in a plethora of ways. It is arguably seen as the spirit of Hamlet`s father, a figment of his imagination and being Shakespeare himself. Therefore, this essay will examine these potential answers to the question.
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.
