Essay On Afterlife In Hamlet

Afterlife in the eyes of Shakespeare’s Hamlet One of the most well know piece of work that Shakespeare’s has authored is his drama Hamlet, in this play we get a glimpse into the genius that is Shakespearian writing and how he is able to bring certain topics into discussion without really realizing it. One of these topics concerns the afterlife, specifically concerning the ghost of the late King Hamlet and whether or not he is in fact purgatory or some evil spirit come to mess with Hamlets mind. Young Hamlet is a troubled soul to put it mildly; he often speaks to himself or makes jokes that are only meant for him to gain amusement. The setup for bringing afterlife into the conversation in this play begins at the very start of the drama. A …show more content…
Ghost during Shakespeare time were received differently then ghost in modern day society, today they are viewed as connotations of something creepy and fake that is here to annoy or haunt them. In the context of Shakespeare time an audience would see a ghost as a being that is still dead and in the afterlife, but has come back with a purpose. This purpose is usually religiously affiliated, and came back to affect the outcome of the lives that left behind. This is the case and lenses that we need to look at the ghost that we come across in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. It is the likeness and soul of the previous king of Denmark Kind Hamlet (Sr.) and he has come back because he claims that his brother, Claudius, murdered him so that Claudius could marry his wife and take the throne. He is trying to persuade his son, the rightly king of Denmark to avenge his death. This brings many aspects of the afterlife into the picture, for those watching the play in Shakespearian times; this brings to mind the …show more content…
The ghost speaks to Hamlet about where he comes from “I am thy Fathers spirit, Doomed for a certain term to walk the night, And for the day confined to fast in fires, till the foul crimes done in my days of nature are burnt and purged away” (1.5.9-13). This ghost like spirit is telling Hamlet that he is the soul and image of his farther that died a few months before hand. Moving on, the ghost states that he is doomed to roam the night for a time, this being not the ideal situation. The soul of the ghost would rather be in peaceful paradise for the rest of his life. Since that is not the case he is restless in his roaming of the night, yearning for peace and rest. The ghost gives the reason for his restlessness stating that he is in a place much like hell, where it is on fire and has not sustenance, hence the fasting in fire. He is in this apparent hell like place because of wrongdoings that he has done during his natural life on earth, he then curiously states that he is there until these wrongdoings that he committed are burnt and purged