Examples Of The Uncanny Of Hamlet

The ghost of the king appears in act 1 scene 5 to tell Hamlet that he had been murdered. What he seeks is justice for his death and to see his beloved son safe. The ghost appeared time and time before to others but waited to speak until Hamlet came to see him. "...leave her to heaven... (Act 1 Sn. 5 ln. 86)" The Ghost asks Hamlet for justice and tells him to leave his mother be for she has already been corrupted by the traitor Claudius. Hamlet goes on with trying to figure out how to achieve his father's wishes but could not bring himself to kill his uncle. This eventually drove him a bit mad, even to the point of

Shakespeare fancies the application of ghosts in his plays, Hamlet is no exception. Scholars argue that the ghost in Hamlet is only a figment of Hamlet’s imagination, but how does that explain others witnessing the apparition. Hamlet’s mental state is declining throughout the play, but what is the true cause? From an external view Hamlet appears insane, whether or not he is insane is left ambiguous. If he is insane, is the traumatic loss of his father causing Hamlet to see a ghost or is the ghost real indeed?

The Ghost’s appearance troubles Hamlet again in a different way at the end of Act Two, when Hamlet questions whether or not the apparition he has seen is really the ghost of his father. He believes that it is likely that what he saw was really an evil spirit trying to trick him into sinning, for, as he says, “the devil hath power / T’assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps…abuses me to damn me” (2.2.628-32). His concern is legitimate; however, it causes him to delay further due to his worries about sin and what could happen to him should he decide to take action if the Ghost is in fact evil. When Hamlet attempts to work himself into a frenzy by insulting himself and climactically cursing Claudius with caustic epithets, he is incapable of maintaining his emotion and he orders his brains to turn about, bringing himself back down to logic and reason. He feels that he cannot act without some sort of proof of the truth of what the Ghost has said, and therefore he arranges to “catch the conscience

When Hamlet sees the ghost he is shocked that Horatio and Marcellus were being truthful, he immediately starts rejoicing and asking the ghost questions “Say why is this? Wherefore? What should we do?”

The Ghost of Hamlet's father is a foil for Hamlet. The ghost is introduced so to reveal information that is not blatantly revealed to us yet. The king gives us some explanation of why Hamlet wants revenge. The king tells us of his death and introduces the fact that it was a murder and tells that the murder was committed by his brother. Through the conversation with the ghost he gains more fuel for the anger he has about his mother’s marriage. In the discussion with Hamlet and the

In the play by William Shakespeare, the ghost of King Hamlet approaches his mourning and depressed son, Hamlet, who is still affected by his death. The ghost explains to Hamlet how he died and demands that Hamlet avenge his death. Note how the ghost approaches Hamlet when he’s the weakest and still mourning to persuade and manipulate him into taking revenge for him. In Act one Scene 5 the ghost states, “If thou didst ever thy dear father love-/ Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.” The way King Hamlet words his request is more as a challenge; in which Hamlet’s love for his dead father can only be proven by carrying out whatever his father wishes. The ghost influences most Hamlet’s behavior, which not only affects the plot, but also the relationships with other characters. The ghost influences the relationship between Hamlet and his mother, Gertrude. He becomes angry at Gertrude because of her fast marriage with his uncle Claudius. Through the use of innuendos, antic disposition, and metamorphic plays, Hamlet makes it his duty to get King Claudius back for killing his father. Hamlet agreed to avenge his father without second thought. As the play advances, Hamlet begins to doubt the apparition. In act 3 Hamlet begins to have second thoughts and states, “The spirit that I have seen/ May be a devil…” This shows Hamlet’s inner conflict between listening to his father and avenging his death or following his ethics. To be sure that Claudius

In the early 1600’s, William Shakespeare created the masterpiece play Hamlet. Since that day, numerous theaters have performed the play and many publishers have made they’re version of the original playwright (the original copy is at an unknown location.) For these years, there has been numerous debatable aspects of Hamlet - one of which being whether or not the ghost encounter with the deceased King Hamlet was real. Of course, Horatio is the credible witness to tell us of the ghost’s existence - but the ghost never actually talks to him like he does Hamlet. In fact, no one besides Hamlet has actually heard the ghost of King Hamlet speak. Furthermore, Hamlet is already grief-stricken over his father’s death and completely expects this ghost

Hamlet questions the true intentions of the ghost and whether it be “a spirit of health or goblin damn’d,” (1.4.669). The Ghost enlightens the Prince of the treason committed by his uncle Claudius, which Hamlet doubts the legitimacy for an instance. According to “Hamlet’s Precarious Emotional Balance,” “Hamlet conceives a way out of his uncertainty, a way to make certain that he has not, because of his melancholy, simply hallucinated the ghost's revelations or been tricked by an evil spirit,” (Lidz). Hamlet develops a scheme to “catch the conscience of the king” by staging a play that depicts the murder of King Hamlet precisely (2.2.581).

In the first Act in the play, Hamlet is the last person to see his deceased father. Granted, Hamlet is the only one to speak to the ghost and he is by himself when he does, but the guards and even Horatio, “Before (his) God, (he) might not this believe. . . Without the sensible and true avouch. . . Of (his) eyes. (Act I Scene I Lines 56-8)” serve as witnesses that there is indeed a ghost and it is not just a figment of Hamlet’s imagination.

appears a second time during Hamlet’s argument with his mother (Act III Scene IV). Hamlet is particularly tense in this scene, and the coalesced emotions of sadness and anger cause him to be pushed over the edge emotionally. While the Ghost of his father appears blatantly in his vision, Queen Gertrude does not see the phantom. Up until this moment in the play, Hamlet’s insanity was a mask he wore to distract his opponents. As Queen Gertrude bluntly remarks in this scene, “Alas, he’s mad” (Shakespeare 3.4. 121), it does seem that Hamlet has truly succumbed to weight of grief. This apparition (or hallucination as the more skeptical approach) is caused by Hamlet’s grief-ridden mind not being able to empty its oversaturated walls. This is not only a literary plot device, Shakespeare must have been prematurely aware of the real-life “grief hallucinations” as Vaughan Bell calls them. “Grief hallucinations are a normal reaction to bereavement but are rarely discussed, because people fear they might be considered insane or mentally destabilised by their loss” (Bell). This brings to question Hamlet’s sanity even before he “snaps”. Is the first appearance of the Ghost even real? Or is it some kind of folie à deux with other watchmen present? There is some uncertainty about this concept, but the second appearance of the Ghost holds much more veracity to this claim. Psychologically, Hamlet cannot contain the misery he is

When Hamlet sees the ghost for the first time, the first words out of his mouth are, "Angels and ministers of grace defend us" (I:4:39). This is the first sign of evil that is sensed through the ghost. The men had no idea what kind of a spirit the ghost was, whether it was sent by heaven or by hell. Horatio then shows his concern, warning Hamlet that the apparition may lead him to a horrible place and change form "Which might deprive [Hamlet's] sovereignty or reason / And draw [him] into madness" (I:4:73-74). This gives us a foreshadowing of the events, which will take place in the play. Later, due to Hamlet's heavy load of emotional problems, he is drawn into

This belief relates to the play because the Ghost of Hamlet’s father decides to visit Denmark and makes everyone question his visitation. Clark states that ghosts appear to “obtain revenge”, although this appears to be true as to the reason Hamlet’s father’s Ghost appears, it is not the actual reason. The Ghost is there to ask Hamlet to “revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (Shakespeare 57). In other words, the Ghost is not there to seek revenge physically, but to have Hamlet seek revenge on Claudius for killing him. The Ghost makes his visitation to specifically ask Hamlet to seek revenge on his murderer; however, he does not force Hamlet to seek revenge. Since the ghost does not force Hamlet to seek revenge he appears to the audience that he is a good ghost because he does not hurt anyone and does not appear violet. Therefore, because the Ghost has not been physical this situation allows the audience to become aware that he is a good ghost.

To start with, the ghost heavily influences the development of a few characters in the play which includes Hamlet and his friends. In the opening act, Hamlet’s friends encounter the ghost of the former king while standing guard on the wall of the castle. They are the first and only characters besides Hamlet that the ghost influences. They are also the only ones besides Hamlet that can see the ghost. This furthers the story by sending Hamlet’s friends on a mission to tell him of his father’s return. From the beginning of the play Hamlet is already depressed and down after being called home from school to return to Denmark to witness the funeral of his father. Following the funeral Hamlet meets up with his friends where they tell him of his father’s ghost. Immediately, this sparks Hamlet’s interest and he wishes to hear more of his father. ‘The king my father!/For God’s love, let me hear.” (1.2.192-95 Hamlet) Here Shakespeare shows Hamlet’s interest in the matter

The ghost of King Hamlet played an important role during the book. The first interaction between King Hamlet's Ghost can be simply called extreme. Hamlet is extreme when he goes with the ghost that looks like his father even though his friends warn him that

Hamlet is not the first one to see the ghost, Marcellus and Bernardo were. The next night it appeared to Horatio as well. It was only after its first two appearances that Hamlet got a chance to see the ghost. At this point the reader doesn't have much of a choice but to take the ghost at face value. If several characters saw the ghost…there must really be a ghost. It's not until Hamlet's second encounter with the ghost that the reader is asked to decide whether they buy into the idea of the ghost being real.