Another question about the Ghost, besides whether it is real or not, is if the ghost is real, is it a good ghost or a bad ghost (a ghost from heaven or hell). At this point in the conversation, the Ghost admits that he will have to go back to sulfurous fires during the daytime, suggesting he is in Hell or at least Purgatory.
Hamlet seems surprised by this, but the explanation given out was that Old Hamlet was stung by a serpent. Assuming Claudius was careful when he killed Old Hamlet, only he and the now-dead man would know it was murder. As part of the Revenge Tradition, popular during this time on the stage, the scene of the Ghost extolling his son (or whoever is to avenge him) would commonly be the first turning point, and begin the revenge plot. Normally the obstacles the hero would face would be physica: distance between the antagonist and protagonist, guards. Shakespeare changes this tradition, giving Hamlet physical access to Claudius but making his obstacles self-imposed psychological ones.
Even when Hamlet talks about being in a hurry, he speaks of the speed of thought or sound, not action.
The Ghost often speaks in metaphors and thus since his claim is that he was poisoned through the ear, it is unclear whether this is just an extension of the poison-in-the-ear idea, as the Danish people have their ears poisoned by falsehoods.
This raises the question of whether Hamlet is really listening to the ghost or if he is mad already is he imagining/projecting what he already believed. It could be that Hamlet did not really know that Claudius is a murdered but believed him to be a corrupt person and can easily believe that he is a murderer. A comparison between Hamlet's soliloquy and Old Hamlet's speech here about "what a falling off was there" shows us that they use language the same way. Old Hamlet had the same view of himself as the ideal king as Hamlet did, but both are disillusioned because what we see is certainly no Hyperion but a petty jealous husband.
If this is an accurate (and not metaphoric) interpretation of the actual killing, only two people could possibly know about it, Old Hamlet who is dead and Claudius who committed the murder. If the Ghost tells Hamlet and then Hamlet has the players use this unique method of killing for their dumb show and the method used in the Murder of Gonzago, Claudius must wonder how anyone found out and become suspicious that someone spied on him and now Hamlet knows not only about the murder but how the murder was committed.
One of the main themes of the play is remembrance, memory, how we remember others or are remembered ourselves after death.
For the first time, Hamlet is aware that appearance and reality do not always go together. Claudius' outside seeming friendliness is contrasted with his inner wickedness.
Since the play audiences hear words rather than seeing them, homonyms create ambiguity; Hamlet could mean he will go prey [on Claudius].
Horatio has the same limited Renaissance Christian Humanist philosophy that Hamlet also believed in before the occurrence of the events which happened just before the play began. Hamlet has gone through a kind of "innocence to experience" epiphany and now recognizes the Machiavellian view.
This philosophy is very different from "Foul deeds will rise, though all the earth o'erwhelm them to men's eyes." Now Hamlet believes that he has to act to right the wrongs of the world; God won't do it. This is closer to a Machiavellian view that man must act on his own behalf because no one else will.
Chris Barkley.
Copyright © Chris Barkley. All rights reserved.
Revised: August 14, 1999
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