Hamlet's Ghost

Many Shakespeare plays contain ghosts, perhaps most notably and most disturbingly in Macbeth and Hamlet. The ghost in Hamlet is the apparition of prince Hamlet's father, the dead King Hamlet. However, up until the time when the ghost first appears to Hamlet, interrupting his speech and thoughts, it appears Hamlet is unaware that his father was murdered. As the ghost intones, "I am thy father's spirit, / 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" (Shakespeare I.v.9-13). While more people in Shakespeare's audience were inclined to believe in the supernatural and fantastic, it is likely the appearance of the slain King still has quite an impact on modern audiences. This is because the ghost of King Hamlet tells his son he was murdered and his murder must be avenged for him to rest in peace.

We see that the ghost is a driving force for Hamlet on his way to conscious maturity. There is something rotten in the State of Denmark but the something rotten exists in all places and in all people. Anyone with intellect and a conscience would not tolerate it, as Hamlet does not by willfully going into a battle at the end of the play wherein he knows he will be killed. Further, the ghost is just one more thing Hamlet must escape on the way to his mature self. As Harold Bloom, noted Shakespearian critic, notes about thi

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cognitive choice between words, a choice whose drive always is toward freedom: from Elsinore, from the Ghost, from the world." Yet the Ghost retains an impact on audiences for still other reasons. One is the supernatural appearance of the Ghost whose image is fearsome, grotesque, and makes us wonder if Hamlet is even seeing a vision or is going insane. Various productions of the play have rendered different interpretations of the Ghost. Even the excellent film adaptation produced by and starring Kenneth Branaugh short-changes the impact of the Ghost through poor camera angles, mumbled dialogue, and inexcusably forgetting to demonstrate the bond of love between the King and Hamlet. This bond of love is essential to Hamlet's development and our understanding of his dilemma of action. He so loves his father but to avenge him he must murder the man who married and now sleeps with his mother. In the Zeffirelli film we see a presentation of the Ghost that lets us understand Hamlet's later emotions, moods, and language. As one critic notes, "We see boundless regret as well as boundless love for his son; in Hamlet's eyes we see a combination of horror, sadness, and love. Just as we see the love the Ghost bears for his son as well

Category: Literature - H