The Ghost By William Shakespeare

The Ghost in Hamlet cleared out the event that Hamlet was uncertain of. The spirit clarified the death of King Hamlet, and caused Hamlet to perform his evil deeds. The Ghost’s request to avenge him caused the death of Hamlet’s family, friends, and eventually himself; therefore, the spirit can be viewed as evil because it failed the four tests that was set by Lewes Lavater and the Church.

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

From the beginning of his and his mother’s conversation Hamlet was very angry and on edge with her for being with his father’s murderer. Hamlet somehow knew someone was eavesdropping on their conversation as he had been spied on previously. He suddenly decides to act out of fury thinking how angry he was at Claudius and kills who’s behind the curtain, thinking it was Claudius. Hamlet realizes after that he killed the wrong man, it had been Polonius that he killed but he didn’t care much saying that Polonius was a fool. Hamlet sees the ghost again after and the ghost tells Hamlet he still must carry out his revenge for his father because he had failed .

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

Throughout Shakespeare's Hamlet, intersperse various symbols to describe Hamlet’s mental state. As he does so, the symbols also show exhibit Hamlet’s great debate between acting and contemplating. Within the play, the ghost contributes to Hamlet’s actions to a great degree. Hamlet only seeks revenge because the ghost has asked him to do so and kill Claudius. The ghost symbolizes his haunting memories and the debate between reality and imagination. When the ghost first appeared before him, he has dedicated

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).

William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet relays Hamlet’s quest to avenge the murder of his father, the king of Denmark. The late King Hamlet was murdered by his brother, Claudius, who took the throne and Hamlet’s mother Gertrude for himself. Hamlet is beseeched by the ghost of his father to take vengeance upon Claudius; while he swears to do so, the prince inexplicably delays killing Claudius for months on end. Hamlet’s feeble attempt to first confirm his uncle’s guilt with a play that recounts the murder and his botched excuses for not killing Claudius when the opportunity arises serve as testimony to Hamlet’s true self. Hamlet is riddled with doubt towards the validity of the ghost and his own ability to carry out the act necessary to

In this revenge tragedy, which is a play in which the plot typically centers on a spectacular attempt to avenge the murder of a family member, Hamlet’s call to adventure is when the ghost, whom he believes to be the ghost of his recently deceased father, beseeches Hamlet that he avenge his death (Charters and Charters 1251). At first looking at the ghost, he questions the authority of him and contemplates that the apparition is just the devil tempting him:

Hamlet initially fools readers into thinking he is murderous and ready to take action after he vows to avenge his father’s death; however, time passes, and Hamlet takes minimal steps in executing his plan to assassinate his uncle. Instead of going immediately to murder, Hamlet stalls by creating a play which reenacts his father’s death. He does so in order to see Claudius’ reaction so that he can ensure that it is not “a damnèd ghost that [he has] seen,” and that Claudius is, indeed, guilty (Act III, Scene ii, Line 87). If he is truly out to get revenge, Hamlet should not need any further reassurance over the ghost’s word, yet he gets some, anyways. After his uncle watches the play and then flees from the

Aylin Mares James McGee AP Literature and Composition 15 January 2016 Lit Notes based on William Shakespeare’s Hamlet The supernatural forces on earth- In the introduction of the play there is an appearance of a ghost. The state of the ghost sets a tone in Hamlet in a sense of dread and despair. The existence of the ghost declares the murder of the previous king and encourages Hamlet to take revenge.

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.

He also debates living or committing suicide. Hamlet is portrayed as indecisive in the play after meeting the ghost. At first he believes that the ghost is his father, but as the play progresses, Hamlet starts to have doubts and even questions his beliefs. Hamlet says: “The spirit that I have seen May be the devil, and the devil hath power To assume a pleasing shape.” (2.2.610-612) When Hamlet first sees the ghost, he believes that the ghost is the spirit of his father even though there is has no proof that it is King Hamlet’s ghost and not the devil. As the play progresses, the ghost starts to harass Hamlet about avenging his father’s death. When the ghost appears to Hamlet in Act One, Scene 5, it continuously talks about getting revenge not for Hamlet, but for his late father. The ghost goes on to pressure Hamlet to follow through with the murder when he says “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.” (1.5.14-17) He wants Hamlet to know that he does not have all the time in the world to wait around for Hamlet to get revenge on Claudius for him. Hamlet begins to have doubts as he starts to wonder why the ghost is so obsessed with the plan to kill Claudius. Hamlet is an indecisive character because of his issues making decisions throughout the play, which leads to the death of all the main

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 in Hamlet creates the hate that Hamlet has towards his mother. Since Gertrude’s the widow of the late Hamlet Sr., he despises her for marrying his father’s killer and for marrying so quickly after his death. The ghost serves a purpose in the relationships between the three for the simple reason of avenging his death. The story would not have any meaning if the ghost did not come back from the dead. The ghost’s appearance is not just someone’s imagination. “In the same figure like the king that’s dead… Looks like

“Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder,'; demands the ghost in (Act I, Scene 5, line 23). The fact that his own uncle could kill his father leaves Hamlet crazy and confused. Although Hamlet knows something is wrong in Denmark, he begins to question everything that the ghost has told him. When something is needed to be done, Hamlet is to busy thinking about his