Act I Scene 5 Hamlet encounters the ghost of his father

Part 3 "Angels and ministers of grace defend us."
*
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=5mJOUKXPWVI&feature=related

*

The wedding of Claudius, Hamlet's Uncle, to Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, occurred very quickly after the funeral of his father. Hamlet and Horatio find this curious.
*

Should Hamlet speak to the ghost - is it the spirit of his father of a demon from hell that will lead him into madness?

*
Act I Scene 4, lines 44-53

Hamlet:
It will not speak. Then will I follow it.
Horatio:
Do not, my lord.
Hamlet:
Why, what should be the fear?
I do not set my life at a pin's fee,
And for my soul, what can it do to that,
Being a thing immortqal as itself?
It waves me forth. I'll follow it.
Horatio:
What if it tempt you toward the flood my lord
Or to dreadful summit of the cliff
That beetles o'er his base into the sea,
And there assume some horrible form
Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason
And draw you into madness? Think of it.


Part 4 The ghost describes his murder
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=h5rbFVTTQdg&feature=related

The official story is that Hamlet's father was "stung" by a snake sleeping in his orhard Hamlet
The ghost claims his brother Claudius poured poison into his ear

***


Comments

Hamlet's meeting with the ghost is full of trepidation. The play represents the protestant belief that some ghosts are manifestations of demons from hell. They are sent by the devil to lead people foolish enough to engage them into madness.

It is important to note that at the time of Shakespeare his theatre was theatened with closure by the reigning protestant authorities who considered it immoral. Shakespeare's insistence on this idea may have been added to appease the authorities.

It nevertheless has considerable value to the play adding to the tension of the encounter between Hamlet and the spirit, but also to the theme of certainty.


Hamlet:
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in our philosophy,


cf

Friar Lawrence:
A greater power than we can contradictHath thwarted our intents. Come, come away.

Romeo and Juliet, Act V Scene 3