Nate Richmond

Professor Lee

ENGL 3006

12 December 2019

Hamlet: Who is the Ghost?

Shakespeare is widely praised for his capabilities to depict a multitude of meanings in his

plays, as well as challenging accepted norms of genres. He does this once again in his widely

acclaimed play Hamlet. This play follows the tragic downfall of Prince Hamlet, in regards to his

sanity and his life itself, as he tries to avenge his father’s death by slaying his uncle, Claudius.

Prince Hamlet follows the guidance of his father, King Hamlet, who’s ghost instructs Hamlet to

kill Claudius. However, upon further inspection of the Ghost’s character and his interpersonal

relations with the other characters, or lack thereof, it’s worth questioning if this Ghost is

Hamlet’s father at all. Considering Shakespeare’s tendencies to challenge what is commonly

accepted by his audience, it is worth considering the possibility that the Ghost in Hamlet may not

be King Hamlet, but a darker entity, intentionally misguiding Hamlet, especially after analyzing

certain quotations from the play, as well as a network analysis of the Ghost’s character.

The first important moment of the play to analyze is when the Ghost character is first

described to Hamlet, as well as the audience. During Act 1 Scene 2, from lines 240 to 250,

Hamlet has the Ghost described to him by Horatio. Even from this early moment, certain

suspecisions about his character begin to arise, although neither character seem to notice. When

Hamlet asks Horatio if he failed to see the face of the Ghost, he responds, “O, yes, my lord, he

wore his beaver up” (1.2.245). In this context, “beaver” is a term for the lower part of a helmet

worn with armour, protecting the face. In this moment, Horatio is confident in telling Hamlet that
he has seen his father’s ghost, despite not being able to see his entire face. Another alerting

moment, worthy of suspicion, occurs when Horatio says the Ghost was, “Nay, very pale”

(1.2.249). Although just two lines before, Horatio describes the Ghost as being full of sorrow, the

connotation of a pale face and a “red” face carries significant weight. This lifeless, desolate

image depicted in Horatio’s account of the Ghost should be enough to warrant suspicion, but

since Hamlet pays no attention to it, the audience likely fails to as well.

Another important quote to consider in the play is found in the early moments of Act 1

Scene 5, which contains the Ghost’s monologue to Hamlet, introducing himself as his father’s

ghost. This monologue, opening with, “I am thy father’s spirit” (1.5.14), includes questionable

motives by the Ghost, claiming to be King Hamlet trapped in Purgatory. The Ghost never

directly tells Hamlet he is in Purgatory, but it is implied when he says, “Doomed for a certain

term to walk the night / And for the day confined to fast in fires” (1.5.15-16). Although

“Purgatory” is never directly written at any point in the play, an interesting stylistic choice in its

own right, it’s important to consider the root word of Purgatory, purge. Interestingly, “purge” can

mean to cleanse out something, or to get rid of something unwanted altogether. In the traditional

religious sense, as Purgatory refers to, “purge” would likely intend to mean the cleansing of

something, as Purgatory is believed to be an intermediate place, used to clean one’s sins before

entering Heaven. However, the Ghost doesn’t follow the Purgatory idea of religious cleansing,

but instead follows the alternative meaning of disposing of something unwanted. Later in the

monologue, the Ghost says he is trapped in Purgatory, “Till the foul crimes done in my days of

nature / Are burnt and purged away” (1.5.17-18). In this context, the Ghost asserts that his use of

“purge” means to get rid of. We come to find that the Ghost wants Hamlet to “purge” his uncle,

Claudius. From the Ghost’s first encounter with his supposed son, he asserts that the only way
for him to escape Purgatory is for Hamlet to avenge his death by killing Claudius, the man who

killed him. Despite Hamlet at first questioning the need to kill Claudius, he’s eventually

convinced that it is a necessity for his father to be saved from Purgatory. However, it seems

contradictory that the Ghost needs Hamlet to murder somebody for him to escape Purgatory, a

place relgiously regarded for purifying one’s sins of the past. This seems to go against the

concept of what Purgatory is for, questioning if the Ghost is in Purgatory at all. Due to these

contradictions, the Ghost’s motivations, as well as his entire identity, are worthy of questioning

the validity of.

Not only do these quotes question and challenge the character of the Ghost, but a network

analysis of the play, two scenes in particular, also help illustrate why the Ghost may be a darker

spirit, set on impairing Hamlet’s judgement. By continuing focus on Act 1 Scene 5, the scene in

which Hamlet encounters the Ghost for the first time, we notice an interesting position between

the characters on the network analysis. The Ghost only interacts with Hamlet this entire scene, as

Hamlet and the Ghost are the primary characters, with only Marcellus and Horatio also making

appearances. Despite this, they don’t talk to the Ghost, only to each other and Hamlet. This

pattern of character isolation between Hamlet and the Ghost continue throughout the entire play.

Whether or not the Ghost is King Hamlet, the evidence supplied through the network analysis

indicates that the Ghost is able to influence Hamlet a great deal, as he seems to interact with the

Ghost far more than any other character. As shown in the next example, the Ghost almost

entirely interacts with Hamlet as well, not even showing himself to the other characters.

During Act 3 Scene 4, the negative influences from the Ghost have finally impacted

Hamlet, causing him to kill Polonius by accident. When Hamlet tries to explain to his mother,

Gertrude, that he killed Polonius by mistake, the Ghost appears to Hamlet. However, the Ghost,
supposedly Gertrude’s former husband, does not appear to her. Hamlet tries to tell his mother

than his father is there as a ghost, when he exclaims, “Why, look you there, look how it steals

away! / My father, in his habitat as he lived!” (3.4.154-155). Just after this line, the Ghost leaves

the scene entirely. There is no evidence of King Hamlet having ill feelings towards his wife,

making his concealment to her worthy of suspicion. When looking at the network analysis for

this scene, the Ghost has a much smaller appearance, but still only interacts with Hamlet. As

Hamlet interacts with Gertrude and Polonius in this scene, his mindset is likely to be heavily

influenced by the Ghost, despite that fact that no other character even knows of him. In

consideration of these two scenes, as well as other moments in the play, the network analysis

illustrates how the Ghost character seems to isolate himself from everybody except for Hamlet,

allowing the Ghost to negatively impact Hamlet’s judgement. If the Ghost was in fact King

Hamlet, this decision to only reveal himself to Hamlet is worthy of scrutiny.

In consideration of quotes from the play and network analysis in particular scenes, it is

entirely possible that the Ghost in Shakespeare’s Hamlet isn’t King Hamlet as he claims to be,

but a darker spirit. The description of the Ghost from Horatio in Act 1 Scene 2 forecasts these

suspicions, as the Ghost is characterized as very pale, while the lower half of his face remains

covered from his armour. Later in the play, during Act 1 Scene 5, the Ghost introduces himself to

Hamlet as his father. The Ghost explains that he is stuck in Purgatory, but can only escape if his

death from Claudius is avenged. However, this doesn’t seem to coincide with the accepted idea

of Purgatory and spiritual cleansing. These particular moments of the play arise suspicion, and

the influence the Ghost has on Hamlet is proven through network analysis. Throughout the play,

the Ghost primarily only interacts with Hamlet. This causes more issues in Act 3 Scene 4, in

which Hamlet mistakenly kills Polonius. The Ghost appears to Hamlet, but not Gertrude, who is
supposedly his ex-wife. Although it may be impossible to entirely prove that the Ghost isn’t

King Hamlet, the possibility is entirely possible considering quotations from the play, as well as

network analysis, to see how the Ghost differs from the concept of Purgatory, and how he sends

Hamlet down a path of mental deterioration.