Essay
Essay Hamlet Hamlet, ISBN: 9781853260094 Ghost in Hamlet
- Course
- Institution
- Book
An A* essay on the character of the Ghost in Hamlet, received 35/35.
[Show more]
Connected book
Book Title:
Author(s):
- Edition:
- ISBN:
- Edition:
More summaries for
-
Hamlet - Locations of Important Events
-
Hamlet Essay Plans
-
OCR A Level English Literature Hamlet Part B essays
2 reviews
By: Username01001010 • 1 year ago
By: aliceland • 1 year ago
Thanks for your great review I'm glad you found it useful!
By: guestsufop • 2 year ago
By: aliceland • 1 year ago
I'm sorry you didn't think it was worth more stars. Can I help in any way?
Seller
Follow
aliceland
Reviews received
Content preview
Explore Shakespeare’s presentation of the Ghost in Hamlet. You must relateyour discussion to relevant contextual factors and ideas from your critical
reading.
Old Hamlet’s Ghost is arguably the most famous of Shakespeare’s five ghostly
inventions. Despite only three appearances in what is Shakespeare’s longest
play, the Ghost has an omnipresence that is felt throughout as his role
generates the key questions that drive the plot forward and has puzzled
audiences and academics through the generations. In this essay I will explore
how the Ghost’s presentation is integral to the two most prominent themes in
Hamlet: corruption, and appearance versus reality.
Shakespeare’s characterisation of the Ghost as a mysterious and other-worldly
being introduces the key theme of appearance versus reality into the play.
From Hamlet’s own “craft(ed)” madness to Claudius’ various plots and
schemes, things within Elsinore castle are hardly ever as they seem. Upon the
appearance of the Ghost in 1.1, Horatio charges it with the question “What art
thou?”, at an attempt to understand it, to try “accommodate it into his ideas of
reality” as Catherine Belsey puts it. But just as the Ghost evades this question,
he continues to evade classification of any sort throughout the play, as
Shakespeare makes dramatic use of the uncertainties and earnest debates that
surrounded the nature of apparitions at the time. The Ghost’s very existence
demonstrates, as Hamlet preaches to Horatio, that “There are more things in
heaven and earth…Than are dreamt of in your philosophy”; Shakespeare is
hinting at the theological debates and volatile religious reforms of the 1600s
that had converted England from a Catholic to a Protestant state, under
Elizabeth I. Protestants did not believe in purgatory, meaning most of the
audience would have believed that the Ghost was a devil trying to mislead
Hamlet – Hamlet himself questions this: “The spirit I have seen/May be a
devil”. Hamlet further grapples with the meanings of this apparition: he is not
the blind, ever-loyal son that Victorian critics expect him to be, in regard to
obeying his father from even beyond the grave; instead, he is a modern,
Renaissance student with strong values of idealism before the prevalence of
what Mushat Fyre terms Elsinore’s “ambience of sordidness” forces him into a
darker, more primitive world. This inevitably brings in to question the true
intentions of the Ghost: is he simply using and manipulating Hamlet’s
emotional vulnerability to gain his own revenge? Belsey writes “Ghosts shake
the norms that allow us to understand what exists – and by extension, what
we ourselves are”. The Ghost is part of the deceitful on-goings at Elsinore;
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller aliceland. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $10.31. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
52355 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now