Search results
- The supernatural appearance of the ghost on a chilling, misty night outside Elsinore Castle indicates immediately that something is wrong in Denmark. The ghost serves to enlarge the shadow King Hamlet casts across Denmark, indicating that something about his death has upset the balance of nature.
www.sparknotes.com › shakespeare › hamlet
The ghost materializes for a second time, and Horatio tries to speak to it. The ghost remains silent, however, and disappears again just as the cock crows at the first hint of dawn. Horatio suggests that they tell Prince Hamlet, the dead king’s son, about the apparition.
- Themes
By repeatedly showing us that performance can feel real,...
- Act I: Scene II
Summary: Act I, scene ii. The morning after Horatio and the...
- Plot Summary
Discovered first by a pair of watchmen, then by the scholar...
- Themes
People also ask
How does Shakespeare use a ghost in Hamlet?
What does the ghost look like in Hamlet?
How does Horatio tell Prince Hamlet about the ghost?
What is a ghost in King Hamlet?
The Ghost impresses on Hamlet the gravity of what happened to him and entreats Hamlet to seek revenge for his death. After Hamlet agrees, he plainly tells Hamlet that Claudius poisoned him to take his wife and throne.
- Story
- Plot summary
- Synopsis
- Battle
On a dark winter night, a ghost walks the ramparts of Elsinore Castle in Denmark. Discovered first by a pair of watchmen, then by the scholar Horatio, the ghost resembles the recently deceased King Hamlet, whose brother Claudius has inherited the throne and married the kings widow, Queen Gertrude. When Horatio and the watchmen bring Prince Hamlet, ...
Prince Hamlet devotes himself to avenging his fathers death, but, because he is contemplative and thoughtful by nature, he delays, entering into a deep melancholy and even apparent madness. Claudius and Gertrude worry about the princes erratic behavior and attempt to discover its cause. They employ a pair of Hamlets friends, Rosencrantz and Guilden...
Hamlet goes to confront his mother, in whose bedchamber Polonius has hidden behind a tapestry. Hearing a noise from behind the tapestry, Hamlet believes the king is hiding there. He draws his sword and stabs through the fabric, killing Polonius. For this crime, he is immediately dispatched to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. However, Clau...
The sword-fighting begins. Hamlet scores the first hit, but declines to drink from the kings proffered goblet. Instead, Gertrude takes a drink from it and is swiftly killed by the poison. Laertes succeeds in wounding Hamlet, though Hamlet does not die of the poison immediately. First, Laertes is cut by his own swords blade, and, after revealing to ...
Jul 5, 2024 · What is the purpose of King Hamlet's ghost in the play? Is it real or part of Hamlet's conscience? Concerning Shakespeare's Hamlet, the Ghost's purpose in the play is to avenge his own...
Since the ghost looks an awful lot like the recently deceased king, Horatio decides to tell Hamlet, the king’s son and Prince of Denmark, about the mysterious apparition. Maybe the ghost will speak to him.
Hamlet is a play in which ghosts are real. By establishing that several characters can see the ghost, Shakespeare shows that it is not a figment of any one person’s imagination, and should be taken extremely seriously.
The ghost begs Hamlet not to let Claudius get away with murder—or turn the throne of Denmark into “a couch for luxury and damnèd incest.” The ghost charges Hamlet to avenge him before vanishing. Though the ghost is gone, Hamlet vows aloud to do all the ghost has asked of him.
