Hamlet - Ghost? What Ghost? I Don't See a Ghost

11/7/05

Weeks 1st period

Ghost? What Ghost? I Don't See a Ghost

In Hamlet, Shakespeare recounts the story of revenge by Hamlet Jr. for the murder of Hamlet Sr. by Hamlet Jr.'s uncle Claudius. Hamlet is a tale of tragedy, but one character is essential and the most significant in the play: the ghost of King Hamlet. King Hamlet's ghost is not only a character in the play, his presence affects Hamlet's character development, the theme of uncertainty, the theme of madness, and the action and indirectly and directly affects the drama of the play.

Hamlet Jr. is the one most directly affected by the ghost since he is the only one the ghost will talk to and sometimes only Hamlet can see. The ghost helps create many things such as Hamlet's madness, procrastination, and the basic plot of the story: Hamlet seeking revenge for his father's murder. The ghost first appears in the very beginning of the play in scene one of Act one where Bernardo and Francisco are standing guard because of Fortinbras's oncoming invasion. During this time, the ghost first appears, but does not speak a word. The ghost appears a second time, this time with Horatio and Marcellus also present. With this knowledge of the ghost, Horatio tells Hamlet, without Horatio telling him, Hamlet would not even know the ghost existed.

The ghost appears again to talk only to Hamlet and his reason for appearance is evident in the following words of the ghost: "...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 Fathers life/ Now wears his Crown"(Shakespeare I.v. 723-727). This quotation tells the truth of the King's death and leads Hamlet on a vengeance for his father's definitive demise and Hamlet seeking death on King Claudius. The truth of King Hamlet's death is seen not as an accident but as a betrayal of the King's brother Claudius. This newly discovered information sheds a new light onto Hamlet's character: his procrastination. Because of Hamlet's anger over his mother marrying Claudius and his father's sudden death, Hamlet instantaneously believes the ghost, yet later doubts arise as seen in the following quotation: The Spirit that I have seen/May be the Devil, and the Devil hath power/ To assume a pleasing shape, yea and perhaps /Out of my weakness, and my melancholy, /As he is very potent with such spirits, / Abuses me to damn me. I'll have grounds /More Relative then this. The play's the thing, / Wherein I'll catch the Conscience of the King (II. ii. 1638-1645). From this quotation, we see that Hamlet is trying to make sure of his father's true identity and that King Hamlet is not the devil trying to make Hamlet commit a deed of unreputable evil. To test his doubtfulness, Hamlet uses the play's plot to see the king's reaction in order for Hamlet to see that his suspicions and the ghost are correct. Having to do this test shows how uncertain the society is about ghost and about the secrets of the kingdom. Hamlet is uncertain whether