The Significance Of The Ghost In Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet

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. Branagh quotes Hamlet’s soliloquy first and then draws the audience’s attention to a book on demonology holding in Hamlet’s hands. The camera zooms in for a close-up of the demonic creature and suddenly, it creates tension

The ghost’s booming voice takes Hamlet through a dark, isolated forest with smoke flowing between the trunks and covering the crumbling earth. In the background, the ominous sound and the dissonant music causes a sense of uneasiness. The howling of the wolf underneath the deep blue sky hints at the upcoming evilness. This wild scene gives the audience fear of the unknown by creating a dark atmosphere, which foreshadows the shocking speech of the ghost. As the ghost turns around, the tilt shot finally focuses on the most prominent feature of the ghost’s face, which is his captivating, cold eyes, glowing with dazzling blue light in the dark while the surroundings are shrouded in mist. The eyes are always the windows to the soul. The highlight of the ghost’s eyes created by the