Magic Realism In Hamlet

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?

There is a general understanding that appearances can be deceiving. This is one of the most fundamental questions in philosophy, appearance vs. reality. When we meet people and get to know them throughout our lives, we soon discover that there is a genuine side to everyone behind the appearance they show. In the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the characters Polonius, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Claudius use appearance vs. reality to manipulate and deceive, which ultimately leads to their downfall.

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 play Hamlet by William Shakespeare their world has become so obscured by lies that the characters as well as the readers can no longer decipher literary fact from fiction. The play begins shortly after the death of Hamlet’s father and subsequent marriage of his mother and uncle. Already shattered from what he perceives to be a betrayal to his father’s memory Hamlet’s world is completely turned upside down when he discovers that his uncle, Claudius, is responsible for his father’s murder. The theme of reality versus perception is prevalent throughout the play in which things that appear to be good and honest are truly corrupted with malevolent intentions. Claudius, Polonius and Hamlet himself embrace their dishonest nature in order to

When Hamlet returns from his studies abroad, his father is dead and his uncle has married his mother. His uncle is the one who has benefited most and Hamlet’s subconscious knows this, however the death of his father drives Hamlet mad so he can never figure this out himself; He is told by the guards that the ghost of his father is roaming the castle. In this time period ghosts were considered real, however people believing in a supernatural being differs greatly from someone having an actual interaction with one. Hamlet has an experience with the ghost, he actually talks to what he believes is a ghost. What Hamlet is actually talking to is a figment of his imagination, a hallucination created by his mind so that he can see the truth about his uncle, this is supported by Hamlet's interaction with the ghost in the presence of someone

       Hamlet is organized around various pairs of opposing forces. One of these forces is the difference between that what seems and that which actually is, in other words, appearance versus reality. What is, and what merely appears to be? We can discern two principal angles from which this question is approached in Hamlet. First, we have the angle of inward and outward emotions, and the profound distinction that is drawn between them. In other words, the tranquil face that we all show to the world is never the same as the turmoil of our souls. In Hamlet, Shakespeare explores this both explicitly, through the device of the play within the play, and implicitly, through the ways in which he uses

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.

Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, begins with the appearance of a ghost, an apparition, possibly a hallucination. Thus, from the beginning, Shakespeare presents the air of uncertainty, of the unnatural, which drives the action of the play and develops in the protagonist as a struggle to clarify what only seems to be absolute and what is actually reality. Hamlet's mind, therefore, becomes the central force of the play, choosing the direction of the conflict by his decisions regarding his revenge and defining the outcome.

The ghost appeared in front of Marcellus, Bernardo, and Horatio. If the ghost was not real then he would not have been seen by more than Young Hamlet. We know that the ghost was really seen by these three because they describe the way he looks and the armor he is wearing. The ghost being seen by more than just Young Hamlet proves that the ghost is real. Another reason that we know the ghost is real is because Claudius speaks in an aside about his guilt. We know that he is guilty because we know what happened to the king before the actors in the play do. In this aside Claudius says, “is not more ugly to the thing that helps it than my deed to my most painted word” (3.1.52-53). This is Claudius saying that even his nicest or sweetest words will not hide what he has done to the king. We know that he killed the king and that what the ghost tells Young Hamlet will be

The ghost of King Hamlet may not have been real in the first place. In many cases when people see ghostly figures, they are not real at all. The ghost could have been a trick played by others. It could have just been in Hamlet’s head. There are many possibilities as to why the ghost was not real. Hamlet takes the words of his “father” to heart and ends up tearing apart the kingdom in search of revenge. He should have thought the situation through much more thoroughly and questioned whether it was truly a good idea to use the words of a deceased figure to heart. Hamlet’s erratic behavior throughout the story shows that he was never completely mentally stable. After Hamlet encounters the ghost of his father, he says, “How strange or odd some'er I bear myself (As I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on)” (Act I, Scene V). Hamlet tells his friends that he intends to act completely mad while he enacts his plan of revenge. Though he says he is only acting, he is very likely overcome with rage and not thinking rationally. The anger he shows after finding out how his father had

In William Shakespeare's work Hamlet, Shakespeare uses the ghost of the deceased king, a character with only a brief presence, to play a significant role in the plot of the story as a whole in multiple ways. The first way Shakespeare uses the ghost of King Hamlet is by first using him to play a crucial role in the development of the characters in the play This is especially true regarding Hamlet. An example of the ghost influencing the development of the characters in the play is sending Hamlet into his descent into madness and furthering his complex character. Shakespeare does this by having the ghost inform Hamlet of his father’s murder. Secondly, Shakespeare uses the ghost to influence the theme of revenge and madness that develops in the play by using the ghost as a driving force

The ghost made the whole situation for Hamlet seem even that much more unreal. He already wished that all of the recent events he had to deal with were not real. He then has to deal with the reality of this ghost. It seems to influence him terribly and takes a negative toll on his emotions. This occurrence continues to further diversify Hamlet’s feelings and emotions (Snider, 67).

    Though Shakespeare cannot claim the invention of the ghosts in tragedies, still he can claim to have clothed his ghost in Hamlet with convincingness. This essay concerns his one supernatural character in the tragedy.

With the appearance of the ghost the reader is, whether they realize it or not, being challenged to take a position on Hamlet's state of mind. At first the reader may take it at face value assuming that a ghost is a ghost and should be accepted as such. But after a deeper look using the psychoanalytic perspective of critical evaluation, it becomes believable that the ghost is just a trick of Hamlet's mind used to justify his urges to avenge his father's death, a sort of madness. It is hard to decide what to think about Shakespeare's introduction of the ghost because of the two different ways he portrays it.