The Ghost in "Hamlet"

If the ghost is truly Hamlet's father, than Hamlet dies heroically, revenging his father's untimely murder. On the other hand, if the ghost is really the devil, Hamlet has been tragically tricked into relinquishing control of his soul; sadly Hamlet knew better, but his reasoning and intelligence were no match for the devil's guile. Finally, the hallucination view of the ghost presents Hamlet as a tragic character whose obsession with his father's death and his mother's incestuous marriage lead to his downfall. Regardless of the reality or validity of the ghost, Hamlet's death and thus his tragedy, remains.

As a result, the ghost is a symbol that reflects the revenge of Hamlet’s father. His first appearance leads audiences to come into the tragedy and something would be happening in Demark. It’s a caution. As hamlet realizes the truth from the ghost, he feels angry and decides to avenge his father’s death. However, even though hamlet decides to kill Claudius, but he apparently doesn’t get ready for the murder, so the ghost appears again to remind Hamlet what the real work is.

The Ghost of King Hamlet Many Shakespeare plays contain ghosts, perhaps most notably and most disturbingly in Macbeth and Hamlet. The ghost in Hamlet is the apparition of prince Hamlet's father, the dead King Hamlet. However, up until the time when the ghost first appears to Hamlet, interrupting his speech and thoughts, it appears Hamlet is unaware that his father was murdered. As the ghost intones, "I am thy father's spirit, / Doomed for a certain term to walk the night, / And for the day confined to fast in fires, / Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature / Are burnt and purged away" (Shakespeare I.v.9-13). While more people in Shakespeare's audience were inclined to believe in the supernatural and fantastic, it is likely the appearance of the slain King still has quite an impact on modern audiences.

The ghost of Hamlet’s father caused Hamlet to start to rethink the views he had for his uncle. Hamlet was given major character development after this event and even contemplated becoming a murderer. The ghost scene in Hamlet is a deciding factor in how the story runs its course, this scene creates Hamlet the madman. By the storyline revolving around this key scene you cant help but wonder if anything would have happened the same if Hamlet had never found out what had happened to his father. Shakespeare used the dead to decide the future of the living.

A great chain of events in "Hamlet", Shakespeare's great revenge tragedy, leads to Hamlet's own demise. His necessity for subterfuge allows him to inadvertently neglect is main objective, revenge. So much so that the ghost of his dead father appears to stipulate Hamlet's reserved behavior towards his fathers revenge. "Do not forget. This visitation is to whet thy almost blunted purpose," (83-84) says the ghost in a motivational manner which almost suggests a lack of faith on Hamlet's behalf.

"The spirit that I have seen / May be a devil, and the devil hath power / T' assume a pleasing shape" (2.2.627-629). With this doubt clouding his mind, Hamlet seems completely unable to act. This indecision is somewhat resolved in the form of the play. Hamlet comes up with the idea of the play that is similar to the events recounted by the ghost about his murder to prove Claudius guilty or innocent. Due to the king's reaction to the play, Hamlet attains the belief that the Ghost was telling the truth the night of the apparition.

He becomes... ... middle of paper ... ...w the exact way and place his father was killed is almost impossible. Hamlet’s Uncle admits to the murder in Act III: “That cannot be since I am still possess’d of those effects for which I did the murder, my crown, mine own ambition, and my queen” (pg. 127, l. 54). The fact that Hamlet’s father was one hundred percent correct about the way in which he died proves he is not just part of Hamlet’s imagination. When Shakespeare put this ghost in his story it opened up a large debate.

From the beginning of act one where the Ghost first appeared to when Hamlet kills himself in Act V. The Ghost represents foreshadowing spiritually, the bloodbath and “Chaos is come again” as C. S. Lewis mentions. Hamlet thinks, speaks and mentions suicide even after he sworn avenge, his problems lies much deeper than simple grief over his father’s murder. The anger that Hamlet has for is mother isn’t because of the action she did by marrying his uncle and moving on so quickly from his dad, but of the fear that someone’s life can be easily forgotten after death and that a life can no longer have meaning. His crisis is morality and not existential. Death has many variety and depth of it’s meditations (The Ghost: spiritual death and Yorick’s skull: physical death).

In the beginning of “Hamlet”, the ghost of Hamlet's father appears on the scene, and asks Hamlet to avenge his death. By that he is put in a position where he had to accomplish that task, but in secrecy, so he decides to fake his madness. His behavior and moods throughout the play frequently change. So, Shakespeare basically leaves the audience to decide whether Hamlet is truly mad or not. Throughout Shakespeare's Hamlet, Hamlet's questionable madness is explored through his real madness, actions, and the reactions of others towards his behavior.

Hamlet’s delay in seeking revenge directly correlates to the age in which the play was written along with the notion that Hamlet is brilliant but impatient, these are the reasons for Hamlet’s procrastination. His impatience leads to his death in the end. In Elizabethan times, a ghost was generally believed to be a devil that had assumed the form of a dead person. These ghosts wanted to put into danger the souls of those nearest themselves through lies and other questionable behavior. In Hamlet, when the ghost first appears on the palace guard’s watch, no one affirms that it is the spirit of Hamlet's father, only that it looks like him.