If the Ghost is really there, is it the devil in the king’s body and clothes? Shakespeare tries to discriminate between truth and illusion and this is crucial for Act I and it will test Hamlet right up to the defining moment of the whole play Act IV scene IV. Horatio's fear of the Ghost mirrors the prevailing attitude toward witches and ghosts among Elizabethans and Jacobeans: “It harrows me with fear and wonder” an oxymoron, as he is drawn to it yet he fears it. Shakespeare's generation deemed the ghosts as closely linked to the idea with their religious fear of the devil’s power and hell’s dominion on earth. As their generation believed that the devil will let the Ghosts roam, as they have not rested yet in peace. Ghosts were believed to be agents of the afterlife, they were universally feared. Ghosts might actually represent the spirit of God, rather the devil. So it is ambiguous to say the Ghost in Hamlet is truly evil, as a ghost could represent an angel: ‘so majestical’ or devil: ‘like a guilty thing’ in Shakespearean’s belief. The dead king's armour implies that the Ghost is a solider, who returned to finish a job, it could also mean an omen for the country that he once ruled: ‘Such was the very armour he had on When he the ambitious Norway combated’. Horatio thinks about the idea of the portents, thus making it clearer on the play.
In Act I Scene II When Bernardo, Marcellus, and Horatio tells Hamlet of news of the Ghost, Hamlet excitedly questions them as to the details of the sighting and hopes it is true, and that the Ghost is "honest" rather than a "goblin dam'd." The Ghost's misery reinforces Hamlet's belief that the Ghost is serious. King Hamlet’s ghost introduces himself in a way that most certainly evoked the sympathy of the Elizabethan audience: ‘When I to sulph’rous and tormenting flames Must render up myself.’ He tells Hamlet that his brother had robbed him of everything he was, all that he owned, including his soul. This is similar to the Bible in some cases, as it provokes us to sympathise with Abel, whereas despise Cain for killing his brother, Shakespeare favours the murdered brother.
Hamlet believes the Ghost because the Ghost words: ‘The serpent that did sting thy father’s life Now wears his crown.’ and he now knows that Claudius murdered Hamlet. For the Elizabethan and Jacobean audience, a murder of a king was a reason why people were caused distress. As the English people believed that the monarchs were appointed by God in overseeing his lands and protecting his people. In all ways, the monarch is represented as God on Earth, as they had appointed by the Church. The king’s murder makes the Ghost a very sympathetic figure to Shakespeare’s audiences. No one would have questioned the existence of that Ghost, and few would have believed even for a moment, as Hamlet does that the Ghost could be a devil.
Another point to consider is that Hamlet’s mother is married to the father’s murderer, which worsens Gertrude’s crime of incest. Hamlet is deprived of choice. He may be a pacifist, but he still lives by the strict Christian principles, but he must avenge his father’s honour, therefore, the Ghost could actually be seen in real life as something that nullifies all our choices, between the honour of killing your relative’s murder or live by your morals. Hamlet sees no way to honour his father except by killing Claudius. Encouraged by both the father’s orders and tradition, Hamlet becomes a prisoner of revenge, therefore the audience can see that the Ghost can be seen as a devil because he causes Hamlet to go to the devil’s side, by committing one of the greatest Christian sin, to murder, but not anyone, but a king. The idea of the Ghost being under the stage, is not for the use of comedy, it might be, but it is used as there were stage limitations, the Elizabethan audience wouldn’t take it as seriously if it wasn’t there to say it. Also, it could be used as a state of mind for Hamlet, so he could remember his duty of revenge on Claudius by ‘swear[ing] by the sword.’ This is seen as an oath and a promise that must be kept for your family’s honour.
Overall, The Ghost’s significance is massively important, without him, Hamlet’s cycle of revenge would not activated and that without the Ghost, the audience and characters wouldn’t find out who killed King Hamlet, we sympathise him, as he has been murdered, so he can be seen as angel. Yet, he emotional blackmails Hamlet into doing his bidding, and he has caused most of the tragedy that follows in the play. Also, he says that, Claudius poisoned him, yet Claudius says he has been murdered, but doesn’t tell us how. So, we would see him as a devilish character, yet we cannot judge this ‘book by its cover’. As, it is neither evil nor good, because he is trying to help Denmark, but also is damaging it, so the answer is not clear-cut, that if he is good or bad.
