The ghost was one of the contributing factors in what caused Hamlet to go crazy. In act one scene four, Horatio and Marcellus were talking about how Hamlet talking to the ghost was a bad idea because
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. 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. The ghost of
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark tells the story of Hamlet, the young prince. When the play opens, his father has just died, and his mother has just married his father’s younger brother Claudius. A few soldiers on guard report to him that his father’s ghost has been seen, and he sees the ghost when he goes with them the next night. The ghost tells him that his uncle killed him to get his crown and his wife, and makes Hamlet swear to avenge his death. Hamlet decides to pretend to be
In Hamlet, pouring poison in a person’s ear had both a literal and symbolic significance. The literal meaning is that they are telling lies to people in order to deceive them. They are pouring poison or “poisonous” words into that person’s ear. The symbolic meaning of pouring poison in a person’s ear can be associated with the symbolic meaning of the snake in the story of Adam and Eve where the snake lures Eve in through lies. The characters in Hamlet were misled in the same way because they had poison poured into their ears. 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.”
In the Tragedy of Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, some of the most significant events are mental or psychological events that make the audience feel and have an emotional connection with the characters. These significant events can be awakenings, discoveries, and changes in consciousness that set off a mental or psychological effect to the readers. The author, Shakespeare, gives these internal events to characters such as Ophelia, Gertrude, and Hamlet throughout the play to give the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax usually associated with external action.
He starts to believe that the spirit may be the devil or some sort of demon that was sent to tempt young Hamlet into a destructive existence. The appearance of the ghost causes Hamlet to mistrust his own perceptions of things and doubt the validity of his father’s ghost and the malicious claim that he states. Hamlet decides to stage a play in which the plot very closely resembles the events that the ghost describes as his death. Hamlet feels that if King Claudius is indeed guilty, it will be written all over his face. “The play’s the thing/Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king” (II, ii, 566-567). In the eyes of Hamlet, Claudius proves his involvement in the death of Hamlet Senior with the look of sheer guilt and horror on his face. Still, it takes a rather long time before young Hamlet carries out his revenge on his uncle. This is in part due to his tendency to over analysis events. Hamlet could have easily listened to the ghost the very first night and killed his uncle out of revenge immediately. Since he took his time to think things through, it gave the audience a chance to reflect the events through the eyes of Hamlet and become one with his thought
Along with avenging his death, the Ghost asks Hamlet to perform another task and says, “But howsoever thou pursuest this act, Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive Against thy mother aught” (1.5.84-85). The Ghost’s assurance of Gertrude’s safety appeals to Hamlet because Hamlet loves his mother and shows willingness to protect her. However, if the Ghost had said negative remarks about Gertrude, he would not follow the Ghost’s wishes. Furthermore, this request by the Ghost makes Hamlet emphasize family throughout the play, and it also fuels his revenge for his father. Also, the Ghost tells Hamlet how his brother betrayed him in order to become king by stating, “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life Now wears his crown” (1.5.39-40). By declaring that his own brother had murdered him, the Ghost indirectly shows Hamlet the dishonesty of the world. Thus, this makes Hamlet wary of those around him even his own friends such as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Additionally, this discovery of his father’s murder turns Hamlet into an outcast, for he fails to trust others. Because he acts as an outcast, many people perceive him as a madman. These ideals of life introduced to Hamlet by the Ghost influence the actions and thoughts of Hamlet throughout the
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. The ghost of King Hamlet helps to develop his son’s character by setting him on a path, he doesn’t tell Hamlet exactly what to do, but he tells him enough of the story to make Young Hamlet rageful and hate filled.
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.
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? Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep, And, as the sleeping soldiers in th ' alarm, Your bedded hair, like life in excrements, Starts up and stands on end. O gentle son, Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look? HAMLET: On him, on him! Look you, how pale he glares! His form and cause conjoined, preaching to stones, Would make them capable. (to GHOST) Do not look upon me, Lest with this piteous action you convert My stern effects. Then what I have to do Will want true color—tears perchance for blood. GERTRUDE: To whom do you speak this? HAMLET: Do you see nothing there? GERTRUDE:Nothing at all, yet all that is I see. HAMLET: Nor did you nothing hear? GERTRUDE: No, nothing but ourselves” (3.4.132-153). In the midst of Hamlet’s confrontation with his mother, the ghost appears and stares at him. Hamlet breaks down and tells the ghost not to look at him that way unless he wants him to cry instead of being powerful enough to get his revenge. While this happens, Gertrude holds to the belief that her son has gone mad as she watches him talk to himself. Gertrude can not see or hear the
He begins by questioning who the ghost is and why it has come in the form of the dead king of Denmark (ll. 46-49). In line 46, Horatio uses the term “usurp’st,” which, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is defined as “[taking] the place of someone in a position of power illegally”(Oxford English Dictionary, 2015). This demonstrates that Horatio does not believe that this apparition is the spirit of Hamlet’s father, for he accuses the ghost of stealing the form of the king. Following this accusation, Marcellus states that the spirit seems offended by what Horatio as said and Barnardo points out that it begins to walk away (ll. 50-51). When delivering these lines, the actors of Marcellus and Barnardo should sound concerned, for they would like to figure out what this apparition is before taking the news of it to Hamlet. Horatio responds to the ghosts sudden retreat by again calling to it to speak to them, but it is too late, for as Marcellus observes, the spirit has disappeared without saying a word (l.
This is also the scene were we get to look at Hamlet’s first sign of insanity hallucinations. In the scene enters Horatio with two guard men. Horatio on the behalf of the two men claim that they saw the ghost of Hamlet’s late father. Now one could argue that ghost actually exists, because other members of the play can see it. Though the “ghost” could be a poor attempt at trying to cheer up the prince thought up by the guards and Horatio. 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. Not even his dear mother Gertrude who was once married to it. Not only that but it is after seeing the ghost is Hamlet put on his war path. Possibly the “ghost” is just a personified version of Hamlets feelings of hate, anger, and jealousy towards his uncle. It is the ghost who tells Hamlet that his uncle is to blame for his father’s death and to go seek revenge upon
The ghost’s appearance has a significant impact on Hamlet’s behaviors and forms his decisions through the play. Hamlet, who is suffering from depression since he is dealing with his father’s death and the hasty marriage of his mother with Claudius, his uncle, became obsessed with the concept of life and death after seeing his father’s ghost. In the first appearance of the ghost, he reveals the truth about the how the king has been murdered, which drives Hamlet to seek revenge, and by revenge killing his uncle. The ghost establishes a dilemma and gives Hamlet time to think about his father’s request. But Hamlet has an uncertainty about the existence of the ghost as he notes “the spirit that I have seen may be the devil, and the devil hath power T ' assume a pleasing shape” (2.2.561–563) here, Hamlet is concerned that the ghost may be the devil and questions the motivation of the ghost for killing Claudius. He has a doubt about what the ghost told him and instead of acting instantly to ravage his father’s murder, he starts to figure out about whether Claudius was guilty or not, as he says “I’ll have grounds more relative than this” (2.2.565) which shows that he is looking for enough evidence to kill Claudius. But Hamlet is a great
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 Prince has a legitimate obligation to avenge his father’s murder and thus restore the status quo; nonetheless, the murderer is the sovereign himself, which leaves him no option but even to take the law into his own hands to achieve through revenge. Hamlet perceives it is wrong to kill a human being as he is a Christian. Moreover, the Prince is very careful which he has been readily condemned for testing his suspicions and trying to find the proof to demonstrate Claudius killed his father. Another admirable characteristic of Hamlet is his extreme intelligence. Javed also states that “[Hamlet] confuses the evidence of his own eyes and common sense with that of the Ghost and must now resort to complicated indirect tactics of observations. He wants to obtain indirect evidence of Claudius guilt by means of staging a play about fratricide which traps his uncle into betraying his guilt”. The very ambiguity of the Ghost leads Hamlet to test the Ghost’s reliability of and to find plausible evidence which supports his revenge by observing and analyzing Claudius’s attitudes and behaviors through the play which is elaborately shown in front of