The ghost enters in Act one Scene four; he is not a character of any true sense, but he is needed for the real drama of the play. He is the spirit of Hamlet’s murdered father. It is because of the ghost that Hamlet becomes troubled about his father’s death and then fears for his own safety. Shakespeare further reinforces the idea of Hamlet’s fear of death further more by the ghost, as he only says that purgatory is “O horrible! O horrible! Most horrible!” This lack of description makes it even more terrible because the ghost is not able to even describe it, or even say the word purgatory. This lack of definition is also shown in Claudius’ speech, he says that with “an auspicious and a dropping eye, /with mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage, /in equal scale weighing delight and dole.” The theme of death is introduced in this speech and its ambivalent meanings to Hamlet. The “mirth in funeral” and the “dirge in marriage” could also be Claudius’ feelings towards Gertrude, as he only married her to get to the throne, and the fact no one has found out about him killing the king. Purgatory is a place where the “spirits” wander between heaven and hell; they have to pay off their debt by waiting in this place in order to get into heaven. The fact that it is also only mentioned in passing, can be construed as a glancing around the subject of death, as the ghost says he is “confin’d to fast in fires” which is also horrible imagery and would heighten Hamlet’s fear. There is a lack of freedom as he is “confin’d” and also the “fires” make you think of the fires of hell and suffering. The imagery created by these descriptions is horrifying for Hamlet, and would make him even more afraid of death. The ghost’s speech reveals to Hamlet that his father has been murdered and that he must take revenge; this sets the mood for the rest of the play. Although Hamlet is keen to “speak to it”, his fear of whether it is “a spirit of health or goblin damned” is very apparent, this is because he is obviously unsure whether it be from heaven or hell and if to believe it or not. He admits that in his state of melancholy that he is vulnerable to the devil and his evil. There are many arguments that this “spirit” could in fact be a devilish spirit having fun with Hamlet, and playing with his mind to drive him to commit these murders.
Hamlet’s dread of death is further portrayed in the second and third soliloquies. In the second soliloquy Hamlet talks a lot of heaven and hell, his fear is shown from the pity he shows to “thou poor ghost”, which is actually the ghost of his father who comes to Hamlet asking him to avenge his death, but his fear is fuelling his rage to avenge his father. The ghost says “Leave her to heaven, / And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge/ To prick and sting her.” He has told Hamlet to let his mother be judged by God and not to take vengeance on her. Hamlet forgets what the ghost says about his mother straight away as he damns the “pernicious woman”. Hamlet makes a ‘contract’ to kill Claudius as he writes down what he is going to do; this at first is what is keeping him from “self slaughter”. Also the contract can be interpreted as a final resolution; no matter what happens Hamlet will kill Claudius.
By the end of the third soliloquy he starts to become more hesitant and frightened because he is nearing the time where he actually will have to kill Claudius, and he doesn’t think that his “conscience” could take it, “Thus conscience does make cowards of us all.” Hamlet also starts to doubt the “spirit that I have seen /May be a devil, and the devil hath power” if this were to be so then Hamlet would have killed people for no good reason and he would be damned.
Hamlet’s main concern is “the dread of something after death, the undiscovered country.” This is shown in the third soliloquy. He fears not knowing what is going to come after death. Hamlet is driven to the thought of suicide because of his conflicting thoughts about his father and Claudius, “the law’s delay/ The insolence of office”, the ghost and also “The pangs of depriz’d love” for Ophelia, this causes Hamlet to be filled with too many thoughts and they overflow in the third soliloquy most noticeably, but also throughout the play. Shakespeare shows this by purposefully breaking away from the regular blank verse and adding extra syllables. “To be, or not to be, that is the question:” Hamlet is thinking about suicide and there are two things that stop him; the revenge for his father and that suicide is condemned by the bible “His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter”. There are other links to suicide in “To sleep, perchance to dream.” Hamlet would commit suicide if he knew that he would have peace but “what dreams may come” after his suicide; they could be that of nightmares. This is what he is afraid of. However it could be said that “to be or not to be” is a trick Hamlet is playing on the king; Hamlet could know of his uncle’s “espials” all along and is trying to make him think that he is mentally disturbed, this would be simple as Hamlet is acting as if he is not sane when he is with anyone else, it is only when he is really alone and saying his soliloquies that we know he is of sane mind. In the third soliloquy, he is not really alone because the king and Polonius are listening in. On the other hand, it can be argued that Hamlet is not of sane mind because he hopes all his “sins be remember’d” he was saying that he knew he was going to make Ophelia become mentally unstable because she is “in thy orisons” which could be interpreted that he was purposefully making her that way, what kind of sane minded person would do that to the one he loved.
Horatio has told Hamlet he “will lose” if he duels Laertes. However, Hamlet still prepares for his duel; there is a definite change in his attitude towards death; he loses his fear and this is shown in his last speech to Horatio where he tells Horatio “Since no man, of aught he leaves, knows aught, what is’t to leave betimes? Let be.” He is saying no one knows what they leave behind and if death should come early then let it subsist. It shows that he is not afraid anymore, he is not anxious because he feels it is up to God to serve justice and he realises this in this last scene. Like Hamlet the audience may have been feeling afraid and they had empathy for Hamlet, but now he has lost his fear they have lost their fear as well. Shakespeare has cleverly presented Hamlet’s mood as more lucid than ever in this scene “free me so far in your most generous thoughts” Hamlet is asking the people not to judge him from the way he has been acting recently, but to judge him on way he acts now. He is not ‘mad’ anymore.
Finally, I have decided that Hamlet would have committed “self slaughter” long before, if it were not for his indecisiveness over his father and if, or how, and even when, to take revenge, which is tearing him apart inside. He shows this in Act two Scene two in his soliloquy, where he is overcome with emotion because he thinks he is dishonorable by not having killed Claudius “O what a rogue and peasant slave am I!”; also whether the spirit of his ‘father’ really is just that or if “The spirit that I have seen/ May be a devil” trying to lead Hamlet down the wrong course; and finally about Claudius and whether just killing him is enough or "that his soul may be as damn'd and black/ As hell, whereto it goes.”
