Essay On Minor Characters In Hamlet

Minor characters constantly play significant roles in dramas, novels and movies. Not only can they be quirky or a source of comic relief, they tend to be placed strategically to help further the plot or give necessary background information on the story at large. There is no doubt that the line count does not matter, if the line is three words long, or repeated in the chorus in a musical, minor characters are the back bone of every dramatic production and cinematic sensation. In Shakespeare’s drama The Tragedy of Hamlet: Prince of Denmark it is significant that minor characters not only provide the play with loveable actors, but also give the audience insight on emotions elicited from major characters. Thus, through analyzing the minor characters in this drama, it will

Young Hamlet firmly believes that the Ghost which haunts Elsinore is the his newly deceased father who has passed without any explanation. Firstly the Ghost is the primary glimpse that the audience receives about the underlying theme of the unknown that is weaved within this tragedy. During Shakespeare’s time, it was a popularly believed in society that Ghost were perceived as demons according to Protestants during the elizabethan era in England. However, Shakespeare would have been a private catholic, which entitles him to view Ghost as a lost soul entrapped in Purgatory. Thus the idea that Hamlet chooses to follow the Ghost despite the protest of Horatio can allude to the fact that Hamlet, perhaps viewed the Ghost in a catholic perception since he decides to not only follow the Ghost away from the safety of Horatio, but also to listen and take to heart all of the information he gives to Hamlet regarding his fathers death. When the Ghost discloses this information Hamlet reacts and a very impulsive and enraged way. Hamlet states that, “Haste, haste me to know it, that I with wings as swift/ As meditation or the thoughts of love/May sweep to my revenge”(Shakespeare I. iv. 33-35). This