The first hints of suspense in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is the appearance of old Hamlet’s ghost and mention of young Fortinbras. The setting opens with the guardsmen on watch late into the night, at first the audience is given no reason for this diligent attention paid at this ungodly hour, however, as the play continues and new faces appear in the play, Marcellus and Horatio beside the already posted Bernardo, an interesting development is shared unto the scholar’s disbelieving ears. The atmosphere as it was had already been introduced as rather gloomy, but this and a greater tension only increases as the twelfth hour is announced and an apparition appears once more as it has for a few nights now, according to Marcellus and Barnardo. Horatio
…show more content…
When Old Hamlet appears before Hamlet, he is struck with awe as Horatio had been before him, but also confusion and a desperation for answers. Hamlet is left to question how his father is thus, when he saw his casket not long ago. He follows the ghost despite the fellows, Horatio and Marcellus, that hold him back and bid him take caution. Though Hamlet does not doubt the apparition’s identity, that does not stop Horatio from marking this with an easily enough forgotten statement that, “he waxes desperate with imagination” (1.4. 89), directly addressing the theme of appearance and reality. Following the Ghost, Hamlet again bids it answer, and though he isn’t disappointed, the words of the ghost are are difficult to bear. The Ghost insists “art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear” (1.5.8), warning Hamlet that in his claimed obligation to hear, he is also bound to set things to rights by taking revenge. Whilst Young Hamlet and the apparition hold council, the ghost tells Hamlet only that he is “confined to fast fires till foul crimes done in my days of nature are burnt and purged away,” (1.5. 12-14), leaving a vague window for conclusions to be drawn as to where he is or what awaits him, either hell or cremation, though no mention of his body after death is truly provided in any of the play to denounce nor validate his statement as one or the other fate of this great king. Thus far, with everything the apparition has said, there is no evidence to support or refute it and as such it poses the question of how much is to be believed. This is where Hamlet begins to dabble in the theme he encompasses, appearance versus
When Old Hamlet appears before Hamlet, he is struck with awe as Horatio had been before him, but also confusion and a desperation for answers. Hamlet is left to question how his father is thus, when he saw his casket not long ago. He follows the ghost despite the fellows, Horatio and Marcellus, that hold him back and bid him take caution. Though Hamlet does not doubt the apparition’s identity, that does not stop Horatio from marking this with an easily enough forgotten statement that, “he waxes desperate with imagination” (1.4. 89), directly addressing the theme of appearance and reality. Following the Ghost, Hamlet again bids it answer, and though he isn’t disappointed, the words of the ghost are are difficult to bear. The Ghost insists “art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear” (1.5.8), warning Hamlet that in his claimed obligation to hear, he is also bound to set things to rights by taking revenge. Whilst Young Hamlet and the apparition hold council, the ghost tells Hamlet only that he is “confined to fast fires till foul crimes done in my days of nature are burnt and purged away,” (1.5. 12-14), leaving a vague window for conclusions to be drawn as to where he is or what awaits him, either hell or cremation, though no mention of his body after death is truly provided in any of the play to denounce nor validate his statement as one or the other fate of this great king. Thus far, with everything the apparition has said, there is no evidence to support or refute it and as such it poses the question of how much is to be believed. This is where Hamlet begins to dabble in the theme he encompasses, appearance versus