Hamlet Essay - 1901 Words

Noor Bhatti Mr. Frank English 12 AP 05 March 2014 The Ghost in Kenneth Brannagh’s Hamlet: A Masterpiece William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a tragedy known for its drama and portrayal of its characters. For many decades, the play has undergone different interpretations as well as criticisms. An important factor of the play that has gone through this criticism is the character of the ghost who appears to be Hamlet’s dead father. After the first encounter between Hamlet and his â€Å"father†, it seems apparent that the ghost is in fact Old Hamlet, returning to Earth to have his son avenge his treacherous murder. In spite of this encounter when looking more closely at the text, various signs appear to lead readers to see that the ghost is†¦show more content†¦These lines give Hamlet the impression that his father’s death was foul and unnatural contrary to his prior belief. These statements not only reveal the culprit but allude to the manner that he was murdered. The ghost continues to describe t he detailed manner that he was killed, providing vivid imagery to formulate in Hamlet’s mind of his own father’s murder. The presence then forces Hamlet to again peer into the horror that sickens him, â€Å"Let not the royal bed of Denmark be, A couch for luxury and damned incest† (Shakespeare 25). Eleanor Prosser states, â€Å"†¦why does the Ghost find it necessary to present an extended, revolting description of the poisoning...This Ghost is not appealing to Hamlet’s love of virtue†¦it is doing everything possible to arouse nausea and loathing†(Prosser 9). This ghost cannot be a penitent soul from Purgatory as it says that it is â€Å"doom’d for a certain term to talk the night,† the ghost does not ask for forgiveness as one from purgatory does but it thirsts for revenge, to punish those who punished it in the living world. The ghost then disappears after reminding Hamlet once again that he is to kill Claudius and avenge h is father’s death. In Branagh’s version of Hamlet, Hamlet frantically looks for his â€Å"father† but lays down and talks to the ground, giving the viewer the illusion that the â€Å"ghost† has gone underground, where people believe that Hell lies. Although it doesn’tShow MoreRelatedEssay on Hamlet -- Is Hamlet Sane782 Words   |  4 PagesHamlet Essay: Is Hamlet Sane With the coming of Freudian theory in the first half of this century and the subsequent emergence of psychoanalytically-oriented literary criticism in the 1960s, the question of Hamlets underlying sanity has become a major issue in the interpretation of Hamlet. 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