Consider the part the Ghost plays in Act 1 scene 1 of ‘Hamlet’. How does his presence intrigue both the characters and the audience?

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English Coursework - Shakespeare

Consider the part the Ghost plays in Act 1 scene 1 of 'Hamlet'. How does his presence intrigue both the characters and the audience?

'Hamlet - Prince of Denmark' is a tragedy. The king Hamlet is dead and the new king Claudius is on the throne. He is married to the old king's wife, Gertrude. Hamlet is devastated by the fact that his father is dead and his mother married so soon after her husband's death. Meanwhile, Norway and Denmark are at war. Horatio, Hamlet's best friend sees a ghost of the old king Hamlet and tells Hamlet. Hamlet then goes to watch that night with the guards. He speaks to the ghost and finds out that Claudius murdered his father. The Ghost wants Hamlet to take revenge by killing Claudius. Hamlet plots too see if the Ghost was right by showing a play of the Ghost's death and feigning madness. During the play Claudius does look guilty and Hamlet overhears Claudius confessing to killing the ghost. Ophelia, who likes Hamlet, is driven mad by Hamlets madness and that he keeps telling her different views on how he feels. Hamlet mistakes Polunius, Ophelia's father for Claudius and kills him. Ophelia then kills herself. Claudius arranges for Hamlet to be killed by putting him on a boat and killing him in England. Hamlet foils the plot and escapes back to Denmark. Laertes, who is devastated by his sister's death, wants revenge on Hamlet. The king knows this so he plans to stage a sword fight between Laertes and Hamlet with Laertes having a poisoned sword. The fight goes ahead and Hamlet gets wounded by the poisoned blade. His mother drinks poison and dies. Laertes and Claudius also get cut by the poisoned blade and die as well.

The ghost is very important to the play. Because the ghost appeared Hamlet feigned to be mad. This in turn drove Ophelia mad and she drowned herself because she was mad. Hamlet kills Polunius because he thought that it was Claudius. In the fight between Laertes and Hamlet, Hamlet, Laertes, Claudius and Gertrude all die. These characters all die because of the Ghost talking to Hamlet.

The ghost appears four times in the opening act of the play. He appears in scene 1, 2, 4 and 5. In scene 1 the ghost's appearance scares the guards and Horatio as they keep watch for the night. They then tell Hamlet about the ghost in scene two and Hamlet agrees to watch with then that night. In scenes four and five, the ghost appears to Marcellus, Horatio and Hamlet. He refuses to speak until Hamlet and himself are alone. He then tells Hamlet that Claudius poisoned him.
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In Elizabethan times the audience would have been shocked and scared by the appearance of the ghost. In Elizabethan times the general public was extremely superstitious and they would have thought that the ghost was sent from hell. Even today ghosts fascinate the general pubic. Take for example the recent films 'The Blair Witch Project' and 'The Others'. All through history people have been fascinated by also scared of the 'supernatural' for instance the 1950's film ******** and the many plays from the 1800's. Even though the appearance of ghosts is always questionable there are lots of theories ...

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