The Role Of The Ghost In Hamlet

713 Words3 Pages
The role of Hamlet 's father as a ghost is to not only avenge his own death, but to make sure that Hamlet gets vengeance for claudius murdering him. The nature in which the ghost appears differs between each one of the three appearances. Throughout the play the ghost appears in many different ways, his main objective is to have Hamlet get revenge for his death. The role of the ghost in hamlet can be seen from different points of view, it can be seen as the ghost being hamlets father is trying to make contact with Hamlet to avenge his murder by 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. This is due to the ghost having to get through to Hamlet in a different way, and for a different reason in each appearance. The first appearance of the ghost is to a duo of soldiers, Bernardo and Marcellus and a visitor of Denmark Horatio. The ghost in this scene is recognized as the king dressed in his full armor. When asked by Horatio to reveal its secret, the cock crows signaling morning, and the ghost disappears. The meaning of this