What was hamlets reaction to the ghost

But there are a couple of hitches. First, purgatorial spirits weren't supposed to ask people to commit murder, since that basically defeats the point of being purged of your sins. Still, that's exactly what the ghost wants. In fact, he says he's doomed to suffer until he gets his revenge.

Second, Protestants don't officially believe in the doctrine of Purgatory and Hamlet is a Protestant. He lives in Denmark, a Protestant nation, and goes to school in Wittenberg, where the Protestant Reformation began. Be sure to check out our discussion of " Religion " for more about this. Pretty suspicious, if you ask us. Hamlet seems to agree, and he's not about to go on a murdering spree until he knows the truth.

The ghost's appearance sets the revenge plot into motion, but it also delays the play's action. A lot of literary critics notice that the ghost has a whole lot in common with young Hamlet.

They talk alike mostly about Gertrude's "unnatural" and "incestuous" relationship with Claudius and they also kind of look alike at one point. Yeah, sounds a lot like the ghost to us. So maybe the ghost-as-dad is just a figment of Hamlet's imagination. When Hamlet sees the ghost and hears its revelations, he voices this thought by saying, "Oh my prophetic soul! And the fact that it first appears to the friends of Hamlet suggests that they shared his suspicions and perhaps even anticipated them, though no word had been spoken.

The inquiry of Marcellus about the cause of the warlike activity and his later remark about the rotten condition of Denmark seem to imply a suspicion that he is endeavoring to verify or to disprove. The scepticism that all at first show concerning the ghost seems to indicate their unwillingness to put faith in their suspicions.

They do not willingly think evil of the king, and they all want some undoubted proof, not only of the fact of the ghost's appearance, but of the truth of his words.

Horatio hesitates to take ths word of Bernardo and Francisco, and is convinced only by the actual sight of the ghost. Research Paper. Ben Davis March 1, Why does the ghost in Hamlet want revenge? Why does the ghost not punish Gertrude in Hamlet? What does the ghost tell Hamlet that he must be prepared to do after he listens to what it has to say? Is Claudius truly in love with Gertrude did he marry her for love if not why did he marry her?

Why does King Claudius get annoyed with Hamlet during their first conversation on stage?