Different artist's renditions of Hamlet's Ghost. | This is a from the 2009 Hamlet which won many awards and praise for its modern dress spin on the play. This is the scene in which the Ghost of Hamlet first appears. |
The Ghost is important in this play is important because it's demand for revenge sets the whole plot into motion. The Ghost's ambiguous role in the play reflects the confusion about spirits in Shakespeare's time. Throughout the play, the Ghost is viewed as an illusion, a foreshadowing danger to Denmark, a spirit returning from the grave because of a task left undone, a spirit from purgatory sent with divine permission, and a devil who assumes the form of a dead person to lure mortals to doom. |
