The Ghost Is a Useful Dramatic Device; Essay

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

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.

The first experience of the King’s ghost is on act one scene four when Hamlet first encounter’s the King’s ghost for the first time. Hamlet makes a statement that he is cold in the night which led to Horatio agreeing with him. This gives off a hint that that there is something eerie that is lurking around at night. Once the King’s ghost reveals himself to Hamlet, that gave the Hamlet and the other two, Horatio and Marcellus a fright. What is also added is the moonlight that shines upon the ghost, that gives it a more uncomfortable aura in the air. In one part of the play, Hamlet says, “With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?/ Say why is this? Wherefore? What should we do?” Hamlet seems to be confused and terrified why that the ghost of his father appeared in front of him and to the other people (I.IV.53). Not only that the ghost appears out of nowhere, the feeling of uneaisess appears towards Hamlet as the ghost of his father

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.

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).

During the play Hamlet consistently see’s the ghost of his father. Hamlet is the only one who talks to the ghost. This would lead you to believe he has gone insane. However Hamlet wasn’t the only one who saw the ghost. Horatio also saw the ghost, he was the one who told Hamlet in the first place that he had seen the ghost of his dead father. In one part of the play when Hamlet is talking to his mom, the queen. Hamlet sees the ghost coming in he wants his mother to see the ghost. “His form and cause conjoin’d, preaching the stones, Would make them capable”(Act 3, Scene 4.) His mother see’s nothing and just believes Hamlet has gone insane. However one must ask himself this question, why would the ghost talk to anyone else but Hamlet? The ghost has absolutely no need to talk to anyone else. He wants Hamlet to avenge him, but he also wants Hamlet to remain safe. Everyone else is now

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

At around ten o’clock at night, a young girl was laying in bed when all of a sudden someone started rubbing her cheek. She looked around and no one was there. Was this her imagination, or was someone there? Ghosts always make their presence known, just like the Ghost in the tragedy Hamlet written by William Shakespeare. Throughout the character of the Ghost of Hamlet’s father, Shakespeare portrays many Elizabethan beliefs on ghosts. Shakespeare creates the question: is the ghost good or bad? Many people have their own opinion on this question, but in this writer’s opinion, the Ghost of Hamlet’s father is a good ghost because throughout the tragedy the Ghost of Hamlet’s father never physically hurts anyone, instead he persuades Hamlet

1. Anagnorisis is a term that was coined by Aristotle to describe the moment in which a tragic hero realizes an important fact or insight. For example, a truth about himself, human nature, or his situation. Aristotle stated that anagnorisis in a tragedy goes hand-in-hand with peripetia. Peripertia is the turnaround from fortune and wealth.

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

    Does the ghost in Shakespeare’s Hamlet conform to the standards for ghosts in the days of the dramatist? This essay will answer this and other questions about the ghost in the drama.

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

    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.