The Problem of the Ghost

1
The Problem of the Ghost

• Hamlets dilemma
• (ACT 1)

Ms Juliet Paine 12 English Studies
2
The Source of Procrastination

• This is the story of a man who couldnt make up
  his mind
• Laurence Olivier states this at the beginning of
  his film adaption of Hamlet (1948)

But from where does Hamlets dilemma spring?
Source lthttp//static.guim.co.uk/Guardian/arts/ga
llery/2007/sep/11/hamlets/gallolivier-5311.jpggt
accessed on 02/08/09
3
Hamlets Dilemma

• Is whether the ghost (supposedly his father, King
  Hamlet) is telling the truth?
• Remember the witches from Macbeth
• Macbeth believed in their prophecies
  unquestionably, at a huge cost to both himself
  and the country of Scotland.
• It is only at the end of the play that he states
  that he has begun to doubt the equivocation of
  the fiend.
• The witches represent the forces of darkness that
  disrupt Scotland and create chaos in the natural
  world.

4
Hamlet meets the ghost

• Angel and ministers of grace defend us!
• Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damned,
• Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from
  hell,
• Be thy intents wicked or charitable,
• Thou comst in such a questionable shape.
  (1.4.40-5)

Examples of antithesis.
Antithesis (defn) is the opposition of words
of phrases against each other - from the
Cambridge Student edition of Hamlet (2005). It is
also apparent in Claudius first speech in Act 1
Scene 2, in the To be or not to be soliloquy
and in many other parts of the play.
5
Hamlet meets the ghost

• Shakespeare employs the technique of antithesis
  in this passage to demonstrate the emotional
  conflict that Hamlet experiences when he sees his
  fathers ghost for the first time.
• The use of antithesis also helps establish the
  ghost as an ambiguous figure in the mind of the
  audience.
• Is this spectre to be trusted? (Remember what
  happened to Macbeth when he believed in the
  witches' prophecies)
• Horatio fears for Hamlets safety stating
• What if it tempt you toward the flood my lord,
• Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff
• And there assumes some other horrible form
• Which might deprive our sovereignty of reason,
• And draw you into madness? (1.4.69-74)

6
Beliefs about Ghosts

• The ghost claims that
• I am thy fathers spirit
• Doomed for a certain time 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 (1.5.9-14)

7
Beliefs about Ghosts

• Roman Catholics traditionally believed that if a
  person died without confessing, their soul would
  be condemned to purgatory until all their sins
  are burnt away and they are allowed to enter
  heaven.
• However, the majority of Shakespeares audience
  at this time would have claimed to be a
  Protestant (as it was dangerous to be a Catholic,
  although many practised their faith in secret).

8
Beliefs about Ghosts

• Protestants in the audience had two reasons for
  being suspicious of the ghost
• The Protestant Church had abolished purgatory
• The ghost demands that Hamlet avenge his fathers
  death, and revenge was considered a sin.

9
Hamlets dilemma

• So, ultimately, Hamlet is uncertain whether to
  believe the ghost.
• Is it a goblin damned or spirit of health?
• Can its tale be believed?

10
Hamlets dilemma

• If Hamlet kills Claudius, and the ghost was
  lying, he is committing the ultimate sin of
  regicide.
• The Renaissance philosophy of the Chain of Being
  (see handout) believed that kings were divinely
  ordained by God, and if they were murdered then
  chaos and disorder ensued.
• eg. When Macbeth murders Duncan

11
Hamlets dilemma

• So, this is the dilemma confronting Hamlet that
  determines so much of the action of the play, and
  makes him a far from conventional revenge tragedy
  hero.