Ghosts In The Illiad

The second way to determine if a Ghost is evil is “good spirits associate with light; evil with darkness.” When the Ghost appeared to Hamlet, the environment in the play was dark. The darkness is not only associated with the environment but also to the Ghost’s words about scripture.

In almost all instances of war the cause has been related to greed, or the gaining of land and possessions. Greed is presented in the very first book of Homer’s “The Iliad.” It isn’t displayed by the cowards, but the “heroes” of the war such as Agamemnon, Achilles, and Pandarus. The entire cause of the Trojan War is the result of the greedy and cowardly behavior of Paris. There are many factors that had sparked the war, including the interference of the gods; however, the main factor to be blamed for the war is greed.

The Ghost in Hamlet is a widely controversial topic with arguments determining whether the Ghost is a “goblin damn’d” or a “spirit of health.” (1.4.40) “‘A spirit of health’ is one, which comes from heaven with charitable intentions, and ‘a goblin damn’d’ is one, which comes from Hell with wicked intentions.” The Ghost only has two appearances in the play and is a symbol for uncertainty, yet it is important as it catalyses the play into action and also Hamlet into madness. The Ghost in Hamlet is an evil spirit returning to revenge his killer Claudius; which is a questionable action for a Catholic person leading the audience to believe that the Ghost is evil. He pressures Hamlet into revenging Claudius while destroying Hamlet’s

Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece both believed in life after death, though the process in which they follow that belief differ greatly. The Greeks believed that at the moment of death the spirit leaves the body in the form of a little gust of wind or a puff of breath. The Greeks believed in proper burial rights that were performed in three parts, and the relatives mostly women are the ones that conduct these rituals for the deceased. Much like the modern world these rituals consist of the first step; laying out the body to be dressed, the second funeral procession, and the third step was the cremation of the body. Unlike the Greeks the Egyptians developed a process in which they prepared and preserved the dead for the afterlife, known as mummification. This process is believed to have been the purpose of the Egyptians famous pyramids, believed to be the stairs that would lead the Pharaohs to their kingdom in the afterlife. Artifacts are buried in their tombs such as gold, wine, and sculptures to accompany the dead in life after death.

In the times that Shakespeare lived ghosts were a readily accepted idea, but one had to be wary of them because it was difficult to decipher a good ghost from a bad one.

The Egyptians believed that the human soul used the first night after death to travel into the afterlife. The body, which the

Throughout The Iliad, an epic poem written by Homer, there were numerous warriors and other characters that could be looked upon as heroes; some of these heroes included Achilles, Ajax, Diomedes, Hector, and Glaucus. All of these individuals were heroes because of their remarkable mental and physical strength: they were courageous and were better fighters in war than other ordinary men. The trade of battle was a way of life to the Greeks back in Homer’s time. Children were raised to become great servicemen to their country, and warriors lived to fight for and defend their nation with pride and valor. The heroic code was a strict morality that dealt with matters relating to honor and integrity in battle.

them. Part of the religion was a ceremony known as the Ghost Dance. The Ghost Dance was to “invoke

that it was on death that the soul either went to Heaven or Hell, thus

‘I entreat you, by your life, by your knees, by your parents, do not let the dogs feed on me by the ships of the Achaians… give my body to be taken home again, so that the Trojans and the wives of the Trojans may give me in death my rite of burning’ (22.338-343). This heart wrenching plea represents nearly the final words uttered by Hektor upon his death at the hands of Achilles. Hektor, who recently boasted of his martial prowess, vowing just moments before to do ‘some big thing first, that men to come shall know of it’ (22.305), is reduced to begging before his killer for the basic privilege of an honorable burial. In this moment of his famous Iliad, Homer offers a cynical reflection on human life and the social constructs mortals establish, especially the idea of the ‘heroic code’ that was so prominent during the Golden Age of Greece. Demonstrably, he implies throughout the work that since all humans are destined to die and memories have limited effect after death, the entire concept of the ‘heroic code’- and to a certain extent, conviction in worldly systems instead of personal beliefs- are pointless given the natural chaos of the world and man’s ultimate fate.

The ancient Greeks portrayed the underworld as a place for all the dead and clearly visualized it in their myths and legends.

The afterlife in ancient Greece was Known as Hades. It was a grey world ruled by Hades, the Lord of the Dead. If they had a virtuous life they could enjoy the sunny pleasures of the Elysium or paradise, if they had a wicked life, then they fell into the dark pits of Tartarus, while if they

When Hamlet tells his friends of his plan to feign madness, he displays confidence that this is the right path. The audience, however, knows this is a mistake. Hamlet is influenced by an apparition of his deceased father. During the Elizabethan time period, it was considers normal to have visitations from the spirit life. The idea that human spirits manifested themselves as ghosts can be traced back to very ancient civilizations. The Roman Catholic Church taught that at death, the souls of those too good for hell and too bad for heaven were sent to Purgatory. Here they were purged of their sins by punishment, but might on occasion be allowed to return to earth to warn the living of the need for repentance. (Sommerville) . The real conflict is determining whether or not the ghost is innocent or a demonic being. Hamlet believes that the ghost is truly the

Central to any study of the humanities is the human condition – our nature, which has historically shown that it is equally capable of both good and evil deeds – and the problem that arises from it; specifically, why do humans suffer? Many philosophies and religions have their own account for this aspect of humanity, and we find that what the accounts have in common is each explains the human condition in terms that are similar to how that institution of thought explains the true nature of reality.

The Mesopotamians had a gloomy picture of the afterlife. They believed that the winged spirits of the dead were confined to a dark netherworld, doomed to perpetual hunger and thirst unless someone offered them food and drink. They believed that some spirits escaped to haunt live human beings. The most interesting thing about their vision of the afterlife is that in it, all humans suffered equally -- there was no special treatment for those who had some well and good in life or for those who had been poor or bad. There were burial rituals, and people were usually buried with pottery and other trinkets. There were not, however, tombstones or inscriptions to identify the dead. The explanation offered by Historians is that the Mesopotamians were mainly concerned with the problems of the mortal world and leading a good life before dying.