Importance of the Ghost in Shakespeare's Hamlet

The Importance of the Ghost in Hamlet

The stage presence of a ghost would have been familiar to an Elizabethan audience and so the appearance of the Ghost in 'Hamlet' carries some messages which are general - almost as though the ghost was a familiar symbol which evoked certain thoughts merely by being present. The Ghost in 'Hamlet' has a more specific role than that given to ghosts in general, however; it has a crucial part to play in the development of the plot. Thirdly, the interaction between the Ghost and Hamlet raises difficult questions regarding duty and free will, and as the trigger for much of the protagonist's anguished philosophising the ghost plays a key but problematic role as Hamlet's true adversary.

There are certain points to be made which are about ghosts in general. To a superstitious Elizabethan audience a ghost would be less improbable than it seems to a sceptical modern audience, but it would signify that something is wrong with the natural order. In Act I scene i the characters indicate that they believe this; the rational Horatio observes that "This bodes some strange eruption to our state"; Marcellus says that "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark". Even before the arrival of the Ghost the scene is tense - the first words ("Who's there?") are terse and nervy and even Francisco (whom we never see again and so perhaps represents the unseen population of Denmark) admits that he is "sick at heart". The presence of the Ghost, then, adds to this sense that something is deeply wrong - like many such superstitious entities (Horatio refers to other omens that preceded the death of Julius Caesar: the allusion to which makes the audience yet more uncertain of what is to happen) the ...

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...cast the Ghost in a terribly negative role - as the burden of (filial) duty that twists and eventually crushes Hamlet's destiny.

Works Cited and Consulted:

Boklund, Gunnar. "Hamlet." Essays on Shakespeare. Ed. Gerald Chapman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1965.

Epstein, Norrie. "One of Destiny's Casualties." Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. of The Friendly Shakespeare: A Thoroughly Painless to the Best of the Bard. New York: Viking Penguin, 1993. p. 332-34.

Gordon, Edward J. Introduction to Tragedy. Rochelle Park, NJ: Hayden Book Co., Inc., 1973.

Jorgensen, Paul A. "Hamlet." William Shakespeare: the Tragedies. Boston: Twayne Publ., 1985. N. pag. http://www.freehomepages.com/hamlet/other/jorg-hamlet.html

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. T. J. B. Spencer. New York: Penguin, 1996.