Hamlet Prince Of Denmark Research Projectedited

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The Ghost's Influence on Hamlet's decisions

Among William Shakespeare's famous works is "Hamlet Prince of Denmark." The play

falls under Shakespeare's most read works in English. It is believed that the process of writing

the play took place between the years 1599 and 1602. Since then, it has remained to be a popular

and influential work of art. This paper gives an insight into “Hamlet Prince of Denmark” by

looking at how the ghost influenced the decisions of Hamlet.

The narration begins with a ghost appearing to Marcellus and Bernardo. The ghost was

that of the late Denmark King. Horatio confirmed that it was Denmark King's ghost by seeing the

armor it wore (Shakespeare 1130). Horatia, Barnado, and Marcellus suggested that there must

have been a critical message that the ghost intended to pass to the community regarding the war

against Norway. (Bevington )Horatio makes a decision to inform Prince Hamlet about the case

since he believes the only way to get the ghost's message could be via his son. The next scene is

a speech by Denmark's king Claudia about his brother's death and his union with Gertrude the

Queen (Shakespeare 1197). King Claudia sends Voltimand and Cornelius to Norway for peace

maintenance. Claudia praises Hamlet for taking an extended time regretting the death of his

father. He, however, challenges him to be a man and be strong as much he lost his father

(Jamieson). Claudia together with his family requests Hamlet to go back to school for his

education in Wittenberg and fortunately he buys the idea. A month after the death of Hamlet's

father, Hamlet's mother marries the uncle to Hamlet; a behavior that disgusted Hamlet. Barnado,

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Horatio and Marcellus later visited Hamlet to give him the information on the appearance of a

ghost of his father some time back. He could not believe the news.

Hamlet fell in love with Laertes, but Ophelia warns Laertes that the relationship shall not

prosper. Ophelia who is also Laertes` brother bases his statement on the fact that Hamlet is likely

to focus on Denmark citizens` interests since he would be the next king. According to Ophelia,

there are high chances of Hamlet heartbreaking Laertes. Other persons who are opposing the

relationship between Laertes and Ophelia encompass Polonius. This person was the father of

Laertes and Ophelia. His hate for the relationship led her to discourage his daughter to avoid

Hamlet (Shakespeare 1135). Laertes followed her father's words. During one of the midnights

when Horatia and Hamlet met on the castle battlement, they overheard the sounds of people

singing and dancing (Prosser 41). These people were drunk, and because Hamlet disliked this

habit, he vehemently rebuked them. Hamlet hated drinking habits because it is the major reason

why nations lag in development. Excessive drinking according to Hamlet promotes corruption.

As Horatio and Hamlet were addressing the men in the castle battlement, Horatio sees the ghost

that they spotted earlier. Hamlet makes a move and calls the ghost. The ghost responds to Hamlet

and calls him to follow it. The friends of Hamlet are afraid of Hamlet's life. Hamlet follows the

ghost and they vanish together (Khan, Shahrukh Rafi, and Jens Christiansen 65). The ghost

confesses to Hamlet that he was killed by Claudia. Hearing this message, Hamlet vows to

revenge and warns every person in the castle battlement to keep silent about the events that took

place during that night.

Having looked at the plot of the play in relations to the Ghost and Hamlet, it is important

to discuss the major themes captured in the context. The themes include reality versus

appearance, revenge, guilt, and death. The reader or viewer of the play would wonder if the ghost

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is in a true sense, the father of Hamlet who died and if indeed Claudius was lying (Charnes 201).

Hamlet has no option other than doubting every event he encounters. The situation keeps him in

an inaction state. Death` s mystery keeps Hamlet frequently worried. The play is generally on

revenge although the main character Hamlet delays the execution.

Another important theme that the play highlights majorly on the part of Hamlet's

decisions that are affected by the ghost is madness. The main character Hamlet tricks people that

he is mad, but in reality, he aims to revenge against the death of his father (Oakes 53). A perfect

scene showing these themes is when Hamlet answered Polonius's call in a childish manner to

trick Polonius that he is insane (Safaei, Mohammad, and Ruzy 27). His use of madness was a

way of buying time as he decides whether to revenge against the death of his father or not.

According to Polonius, Hamlet was becoming insane due to the love he had for his daughter.

Since the first performance of "Hamlet Prince of Denmark," It has had great literary

importance. Some of the writers that this work has influenced include John Milton, George Eliot,

David Wallace, and Wilhelm Von Goethe. Shakespeare does not consider Aristotle's idea for

plays to majorly emphasize action. According to Shakespeare, the most important aspect of plays

is the characters.

In conclusion, the ghost presented Hamlet to a situation whereby making decisions was

difficult. Hamlet could not tell whether the ghost was real or it was just a dream. This situation

rendered him inactive and mad. He should not trust the ghost because it made him depict his

weaknesses.

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Works cited

1. Bevington, David. "Hamlet | Plot & Characters". Encyclopedia Britannica, 2019,

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hamlet-by-Shakespeare. Accessed 5 May 2019.

"Hamlet | Plot & Characters" gives a description of the play's Characters as well as the

plot. It is posted on a website. It assists in knowing the context in which the characters

are acting.

2. Charnes, Linda. "The Hamlet formerly known as Prince." Shakespeare and Modernity.

Routledge, 2013. 201-222. This essay is part of a book entitled Shakespeare and

Modernity. It depicts the situation during the times of Hamlet and today. There is a link

between the two periods.

3. Jamieson, Lee. "What Makes Hamlet One Of Shakespeare's Most Tragic, Dramatic Plays?".

Thoughtco, 2019, https://www.thoughtco.com/what-happens-in-hamlet-2984980. Among

the issues discussed in this source are the characters of the play Hamlet. Shakespeare

unlike Aristotle focused more on characters in a play. This feature is among the many

things that made Hamlet popular.

4. Khan, Shahrukh Rafi, and Jens Christiansen. "Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark: how

development has disappeared from today’s “Development” discourse." Towards new

developmentalism. Routledge, 2010. 65-76. This essay is part of a book 'Towards New

Developmentalism.' It links development in the current century to the story of Hamlet. As

a leader Hamlet influenced the development of Denmark.

5. Oakes, Edward T. "Hamlet and the Reformation: The Prince of Denmark as." Logos: A

Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture 13.1 (2010): 53-78. "Hamlet and the

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Reformation" discusses the kind of change brought about by the leadership of Hamlet. It

could not only be about leadership but also as an ordinary person.

6. Prosser, Eleanor. Hamlet and revenge. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1971. This book

discusses Hamlet's plans to revenge against the person who murdered his father.

Although he buys time, he has the desire to revenge. He is not sure whether he saw his

father's ghost or he did not.

7. Safaei, Mohammad, and Ruzy Suliza Hashim. "Ophelia Transformed: Revisioning

Shakespeare’s Hamlet." GEMA Online® Journal of Language Studies 13.2 (2013).

"Ophelia Transformed: Revisioning Shakespeare’s Hamlet" focuses majorly on one

character Ophelia. He largely influenced the decisions of Hamlet. This point is evident in

the way this source shows Ophelia warned a marriage between Laerste and Hamlet.

8. Shakespeare, William, Stanley Wells, and Gary Taylor. The Oxford Shakespeare: the

complete works. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. This book has a collection of

Shakespeare's complete works. Among the works is Hamlet. It gives a narration of the

play

9. Shakespeare, William. "The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.[1601]." The Riverside

Shakespeare (1980): 1135-1197. This book contains the play. It is designed by

LimpidSoft. The original works, however, belongs to Shakespeare (1604).

10. Shakespeare, William. The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. SR Winchell &

Company, 1885. This book describes the play in various ways. It begins by introducing

the main character and then gives significant comments. Also, it offers a guide on how to

read Literary works put in the language of English.

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