‘Sit down awhile,
And let us once again assail your ears,
That are so fortified against our story,
What we two nights have seen.’
This waiting creates a spooky mood and atmosphere as they are expecting a ghost to appear. The waiting keeps the reader or viewer in suspense.
When the ghost does appear, they immediately notice that it resembles the king. ‘In the same figure like the king that’s dead’ and ‘looks it not like the king?’ This intrigues them and Horatio speaks of how ‘it harrows me with fear and wonder’. He is afraid of the ghost, but it also makes him curious as it bears a similar resemblance to the king.
Moving on to Act 1, Scene 2, from line 129 to 159, Hamlet gives an emotional and powerful soliloquy. He talks very directly about suicide and how he wishes his ‘too solid flesh would melt’. He talks about how ‘weary, stale, flat and unprofitable’ the world is, and he compares it to an ‘unweeded garden’ filled with ‘things rank and gross in nature.’ This is him talking about how the world has been overgrown with weeds, and negativity.
Hamlet’s speech is all over the place and also very emotional. He is not speaking to anyone but the reader or viewer, so these are his thoughts which are everywhere. This shows the reader how his father’s death and his uncle consequently stealing the throne and marrying Hamlet’s mother has affected him.
When Horatio enters the room after Hamlet’s emotional and lonesome speech, Hamlet learns of this ghost that resembles his father. Horatio talks to Hamlet and they say:
Horatio My lord, I think I saw him yesternight.
Hamlet Saw who?
Horatio My Lord, the king your father.
Hamlet The king my father?
Hamlet keeps asking and questioning Horatio just to make sure. Hamlet then says, ‘I’ll watch tonight; perchance ’twill walk again.’ He wants to see for himself if there is actually a ghost that resembles his father.
Act 1, Scene 3 of the play is quite short and is about Laertes saying goodbye to his sister Ophelia, and also warning her of ‘Hamlet and the trifling of his favours’ as their difference in status is huge, and that it is unlikely that they will ever get married. There is barely any language of disorder, corruption or decay in this act of Hamlet.
In the next scene, the ghost returns and confronts Hamlet. At this stage in the play, although we have seen far more of the ghost, Horatio, who encountered the ghost first, is still weary and cautious when it approaches, as the reader or viewer soon finds out. The ghost beckons Hamlet to follow it, and Horatio and Marcellus try to stop Hamlet from going with it. ‘Do not go with it’ Marcellus says to Hamlet. Then, Horatio says to Hamlet:
‘What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,
Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff
That beetles o’er his base into the sea,
And there assumes some other horrible form
Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason
And draw you into madness? Think of it.’
As previously stated, this shows that although we have seen more of the ghost, people are still cautious of it. Horatio tells Hamlet what his worries are. That the ghost might try to kill Hamlet or draw him into madness. He also says, ‘assumes some other horrible form’. This is telling the audience that they already consider the ghost as a ‘horrible’ image, even though it represents their old king.
When Hamlet and the ghost disappear, Marcellus says one of the most famous lines in the play: ‘Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.’ This is signifying corruption in Denmark and that strange and evil events are occurring. It is a reference to the ‘rotten’ core of Denmark. The decay and corruption is like a disease as it spreads throughout the play with Claudius’ scheming.
The final scene of the first act, scene 5, is when the ghost tells Hamlet that he is his father’s spirit, and also tells him that he did not die from a snake’s bite, but Claudius killed him by pouring poison in his ear while he was sleeping. His father’s spirit tells Hamlet to go and revenge his murder. This is a example of corruption, and it is setting up more death to come, and also reveals that Claudius poisoned Hamlet which signifies disorder and emotion. The ghost says to Hamlet, ‘revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.’ Foul is a negative, harsh word, but is a good description of the scene and what is going on. It signifies more decay and corruption.
Then, right at the end of the scene, Hamlet says, ‘time is out of joint.’ This suggests that the universe is falling in on itself, time is failing, and there is corruption and disorder everywhere.
This first act of Hamlet is very descriptive and powerful. Shakespeare uses powerful imagery to create images of despair and corruption. It all follows on, as Claudius begins to plan more things, and the audience experience more disorder and decay throughout.