Grief driven by love tempts Hamlet to think his father’s goodness, and more, the loss of such a favorable figure. Hamlet believes that the ghost that is said to look like the dead king is indeed his father.”He waxes desperate with imagination”(I.ii.92). The Prince, who is deep in sadness and does not think sufficiently, is convinced that the spirit is the Old Hamlet, he is the only person that can physically communicate with the ghost. Hamlet for the second time talks to the apparition in his mother’s chamber, where Gertrude does not see any. What Horatio and other witnesses encounter at the gate at night proves the possibility of the existence of the ghost, Hamlet later in the play is considered to be truly mad on the account of his unusual ability to see and talk to the spirit, which is obviously conjured up by his mind.
Soon, his mother and the king think Hamlet is insane. Is Hamlet really crazy? In The Turn of the Screw, the ghosts appear to the governess while she is thinking about the master, her infatuation, or his heir, Miles. The governess states, "...the only way to be sure he knew would be to see it, and the kind light of it, in his [the master`s] handsome face" (James 23). Suddenly Peter Quint appears in a high window.
The Ghost: Bona fide or Bogus? In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, the ghost of Hamlet’s father is intended to be seen as a real ghost. Around 1600, when the play Hamlet was written, many people believed in mystical creatures like witches, monsters, and most importantly: ghosts. With so many people believing in these characters, it makes sense that Shakespeare portrays the ghost of Hamlet’s father as a real figure. Many examples support this, such as when the guards in Act I scene i see the ghost, which proves it’s not just in Hamlet’s imagination.
The ghost is still waving me over. Let me go, gentlemen. (Act 1 scene 4. line 89) The ghost than speaks, revealing that he is the spirit of his father and is in a sort of “purgatory”. The ghost reve... ... middle of paper ... ...t. This absence of conversation allows an idea of the ghost being real but some of the conversations and instructions given from the ghost just being a figure of hamlets own conscious and thoughts. Additionally, on the other side of the spectrum, the last appearance could have been a complete enactment in Hamlets mind proving he did in fact go mad.
Shakespeare kept the nature of the ghost a mystery hovering over the play. He takes care not to reveal it. We never know if the ghost is good or evil spirit. To understand this idea we have to go back to the Elizabethan belief during that period of time. Most Catholics believed that ghosts could be the spirits of the dead coming from the purgatory to finish unfinished matters so their wandering souls may find rest.
In the exposition of the play, he may not have been crazy. Both Horatio and Marcellus along with Hamlet, see the ghost of his "so called father". Although there is no proof that Hamlet is crazy this early in the play, the news the ghost brings sparks Hamlet's pure insanity. As stated in Act 1 Scene 5, Hamlet has his first interaction with the ghost. The ghost admits to being his father’s spirit and states:" 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.
In the first scene the ghost of his father, King Hamlet, approaches Hamlet. Similarly, the opening of Macbeth involves the three witches. Although the witches can be seen by anyone they approach, the ghost of King Hamlet is only seen by Hamlet himself, and in one scene by Marcellus and Bernardo, Hamlet’s servants. Similarly in both plays, the main characters are slightly suspicious of the actual powers these supernatural figures have. As the witches use their apparent powers to tell Macbeth the future, the ghost of King Hamlet tells Hamlet what has happened already.
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.
When the ghost first appears to the three men, Horatio urges to have Prince Hamlet notified at once the presence of his dead father's ghost, at one time King Hamlet. Why would King Hamlet's spirit be wandering the grounds of Elsinore? This opening of the play is crucial because it brings up many questions that one hopes to answer later. Due to the uncertainty of them being evil or heavenly, the people of the time were afraid of ghosts, including the two guards and Horatio who were horrified when they first encounter King Hamlet's spirit. Hamlet is quoted "I wish that my living flesh would melt into nothingness."
A common motif in Shakespeare’s many plays is the supernatural element, to which Hamlet , with the presence of a ghost, is no exception. The story of Hamlet, the young prince of Denmark, is one of tragedy, revenge, deception, and ghosts. Shakespeare’s use of the supernatural element helps give a definition to the play by being the catalyst of the tragedy that brings upon Hamlet’s untimely demise. The ghost that appears at the beginning of the play could possibly be a satanic figure that causes Hamlet to engage in the terrible acts and endanger his soul. The supernatural element incorporated into the play is used as an instigator, a mentor, as well as mediation for the actions of the protagonist that ultimately end in tragedy, with the loss of multiple lives, as well as suscept Hamlet’s soul to hell.