Horatio says of the ghost, “…it started like a guilty thing/ Upon a fearful summons” This simile implies that the ghost is still facing judgement, and this introduces the idea of purgatory. It is believed by Catholics that when a person dies, they either go to heaven, hell or are in judgement in purgatory. The ghost further hints this idea to Hamlet when he says, “Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature/ Are burnt and purged away.” This further connotes the idea that Hamlet’s father is Catholic whereas Hamlet, a student at Wittenberg, the same university attended by Martin Luther the religious Reformist and founder of Protestantism, is Protestant. This idea of religious differences can be linked to the era in which Shakespeare was writing, in that the Church of England had broken away from the Catholic Church under King Henry in the 16th century and there was thus consciousness of differing denominations among Catholics and Anglicans in England.
It is also very dramatic that the ghost does not speak to the guards, and indeed it speaks to no other person but Hamlet. Although Horatio, the scholar, bids it to speak to him with the continuous repetition of ‘Speak to me’, the ghost does not speak till it has met Hamlet and led him away from the others. The delay between when the guards see the ghost in the first scene and when the ghost actually speaks to Hamlet in Scene Four creates suspense and heightens the tension in the play. The appearance and words of the ghost confirms the speculation by the guards and Horatio that “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” This is reminiscent of where Horatio earlier points out, making use of alliteration, that “this bodes some strange eruption to our state.” There is a lot of war imagery used in this Act, including “…assail your ears/ That are so fortified…” and “martial stalk”. The Danes are worried that war will be waged on them by Fortinbras of Norway, and thus the reason for people working to make weapons day and night, and guards watching the palace all night long. The ghost only seems to buffer these thoughts, appearing in “warlike form” and wearing the same armour which King Hamlet had on when he “combated” Norway. However, the ghost’s calling of Hamlet aside is significant as it proves that he has appeared for a more private reason than those concerning the wars of Denmark.
The evocative and vivid language which the ghost employs in speaking to Hamlet about purgatory is highly significant as it encourages Hamlet to spur to action in avenging his father’s death. The ghost states that he is ‘doomed for a certain term to walk the night’ and in the day to “fast in fires”. The alliteration in the last phrase places emphasis on the suffering which he is going through. He further describes purgatory with the imagery of a “prison house” and says, in a simile, that should he detail Hamlet on the secrets of purgatory, his hairs would stand on end like quills upon a ‘fretful porpentine’. The ghost also introduces the idea of murder in the play, stating alliteratively, “Murder most foul.” Orders are also given to Hamlet by the ghost such as “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” and the haunting “Remember me.” All of these factors come together to make Hamlet pity his father and be even more prepared to seek his father’s revenge.
Important information for the events of the play yet to unfold is revealed to us by the ghost. For instance, the ghost tells us of how he was poisoned in the ear by Claudius through references to the situation such as the metonymic phrase “…the whole ear of Denmark…” and the imagery, “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life/ Now wears his crown.” Hamlet’s views are also largely influenced by the language used by his father’s ghost. The ghost refers to Claudius in an unhealthy, animalistic manner, calling him, “that incestuous, that adulterate beast.” Hamlet thus thinks of Claudius in this manner for the rest of the play. The ghost also informs Hamlet that he was “cut off in the blossom of…sin” , meaning that he was killed before even being allowed to ask for forgiveness, and thus he was still in purgatory. This later influences Hamlet’s actions as he does not kill Claudius at the opportunity he gets when Claudius is praying, believing that Claudius would then go “…to heaven.” Little does he know that Claudius is not actually praying, as Claudius confirms in the rhyming couplet, “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below./ Words without thoughts never to heaven go.”
The fact that there is a ghost present in the play influences several other things. One of these is the fate of the protagonist, Hamlet. Hamlet is obliged to do as the ghost says, and thus situations are beyond his control. The ghost charges him to avenge his father’s death and, should he slack, the ghost reappears to urge him to carry out the revenge. For instance, the ghost appears when Hamlet is being violent towards his mother later on in the play, rather than paying full attention to what he had been charged to do- to revenge.
However, the fact that the ghost is present in the play means that we, and Hamlet, can question the validity of what the ghost says. The whole basis of the revenge lies on the words of the ghost, but what if the ghost is an illusion of Hamlet’s? What if the ghost leads Hamlet to destruction, as is hinted at by Horatio’s rhetorical question “Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason/ And draw you into madness?” This is notably the first hint at madness in the play, and Hamlet, perhaps having doubts about what the ghost says, delays his revenge and sets out to find proof for himself. He wants proof to assure himself that the ghost’s words are valid, and thus he puts on a ‘play within a play’ on the theme of his father’s death called the Murder of Gonzago to watch the reaction of his uncle. Whilst he delays his revenge, Hamlet does pretend to be mad, fulfilling Horatio’s prediction in a manner. The result of all of this is that Ophelia, his lover, actually turns mad and commits suicide.
The play is thus, very importantly, set off by the appearance of the ghost. He is a sort of catalyst to the subsequent events of the play. Described in Act 1 as a “portentous figure”, the ghost does not fail to fulfil its potential as the initial trigger which led to the chain of events that make up the plot of this play. The significance of the ghost in this Act is therefore highly important, as the ghost’s appearance, words an actions, are the basis on which the rest of the play is built.