The Ghost's Purpose and Meaning in Hamlet by Gibea Arian-Tite professor Bottez Alina Group 9, Series 2, Polish A - English B Hamlet is perhaps one of Shakespeare's most popular works, being the favorite of numerous readers. This play succeeds in depicting revenge and the consequences it has on a man and those around him. It manages to keep the audience in a veil of mystery at first, then in a burning anticipation, all of this with the use of the ghost, portrayed by Hamlet's late father. In this essay I shall be talking about how the ghost appears, what it is and how it affects the action of the play and its characters, especially Hamlet. Keywords: ghost, Hamlet, purpose, meaning First of all, the ghost has an important role when it comes to the way it forms the narrative. It has the purpose of drawing the audience into a series of questions from the very start of the play, as it starts with its sighting. " 'Whose there?' says Barnardo, bravely, in the cold darkness on the castle platform. These are the first words of the play, and it is hard to see how tehy could be bettered." No one knows it's intentions at first, not even its identity, revealed eventually to be the former king of Denmark, Hamlet's late father. No one knows if it's good or evil, throughout the play having been sighted by many characters, but only ever spoken to Hamlet. Our only answer regarding the motives of the ghost comes from Hamlet, whom reveals that its intentions are of good nature, however seeking revenge with the use of …show more content…
It is not a character marked by strength of will or even passion, but by refinement of thought and sentiment. Hamlet is as little of the hero as a man can be: but he is a young and princely novice, full of high enthusiasm and quick sensibility - the sport of circumstances, questioning with fortune and refining on his own feelings, and forced from the natural bias of his disposition by the strangeness of his