Junior Varsity English (Prep for AP, Humanities, and Big Time University): ghosts and spirits

Friday, April 13, 2007

ghosts and spirits

ghosts and spirits: 1.1 (nearly all), 1.1.173-179, 1.4 (nearly all), 1.5 (nearly all), 2.2.627-632

8 comments:

Cristina Galanis said...: Motifs: Ghosts and Spirits

Act 1.sc 1.102-124 “I think it be no other but e’en so.
Well may it sort be no other that this portentous figure
Comes armed through our watch so like the king
That was and is the question of these wars.”

This first quote is said by Bernardo in the presence of Marcellus and Horatio. In this scene they are discussing the spirits presence and how it looks like the dead king in his suite of armor. However, though they try to speak to the spirit it will not respond to them. The men think they are out to guard the gate because there is worry in Denmark that Fortinbra is planning to gain back all his land and that’s why they think the ghost is stalking them now with his suite of armor ready to fight in battle.
This quote represents war. The spirit is ready for war because it knows something they don’t. It’s probably coming very soon from what they can figure out. The spirit comes close to them but doesn’t speak yet is very intimidating to them. It definitely worries them and something big is yet to come of this meeting.
This quotation relates to the motif in that the spirit, the king, is the cause of the past wars and it appearing before their very eyes can only mean his is back for some unfinished business, in this case meaning war. It leaved the men in question because it doesn’t speak but what they can gain form seeing it is that it’s a bad sign to all the people of Denmark. No good can come of it.

Act 1.sc.5.14-22 “ 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. But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison house,
I could a tale unfold whole lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres

In this second quote the Ghost, Hamlets fathers’ spirit, is talking to Hamlet. In this scene, the Ghost tells Hamlet a tale of horror, saying that he is the spirit of Hamlet’s father. The spirit wants that Hamlet avenge King Hamlet’s murder at the hands of Claudius, King Hamlet’s brother. In a horrified state, Hamlet swears to remember what he had said. The tale that was told horrified him but it also filled him with anger, sadness and disgust because his uncle would do such a thing to such a good man, let alone his own brother. By horrified he means, “Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres.”
One hearing this would most likely be so angry as to take ones father’s words into account and do as says. This is basically a ghost’s unfinished business, so once the deed is done it will probably die in peace. However, at this time the ghost is:
“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.”
The ghost is facing the eye of hell where he is forced to face torture because of his past crimes of killing lives when he was king, and must now face the consequences. Though Hamlet is not dead mentally, I sense he is dead spiritually because he has lost his father, his mother remarried to his own uncle, and now that he found out the truth of how his father really died it made matters worse. He even says to himself, “O’ that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw and resolve itself into a dew,” so he is wishing that he would just melt away, die, disappear from the world because he has nothing to live for. But doing so would mean he was a coward.
As for Hamlet, he would probably feel better knowing that his fathers death is a last avenged but still be filled with anger and sadness. However, if he was to kill Claudius and later died because of some incident, he too would have to face hell which his father is in at the moment which is not a great place to be but makes it seems like that’s the life he’s living in. The torture of seeing his mother wed to his uncles and knowing that very uncle killed his father. Among the living, lies the dead, but who ever said the living souls weren’t dead and the dead lived in heaven not on earth?

Do the ghosts and spirits always represent something bad is going to happen or something horrifying is said to horrify and corrupt ones mind?; April 24, 2007 at 5:44 PM
Katie Kippen said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; April 24, 2007 at 7:28 PM
Katie Kippen said...: HORATIO: What, has this thing appeared again tonight?
BARNARDO: I have seen nothing.
MARCELLUS: Horatio says ‘tis but our fantasy/ And will not let belief take hold of him/ Touching this dreaded sight twice seen of us./ Therefore I have entreated him along/ With us to watch the minutes of this night,/ That, if again this apparition come,/ He may approve our eyes and speak to it.
(1.1.26-34)

These quotations represent a conversation being held between Horatio, Marcellus, and Barnardo. At this point and time in the novel, Barnardo came to relieve Francisco of his duties. Horatio does not believe that the ghost even exists let alone that it has been previously sighted. Therefore, Marcellus brought Horatio out at night to try to prove once and for all that the mysterious ghost is, in fact, real. Marcellus makes it clear that they have yet been successful in communicating with the ghost and perhaps once Horatio realizes that Marcellus and Barnardo are not lunatics, he may be able to talk with it. I believe that this quotation is significant because it leads to the first confrontation with the ghost of King Hamlet. Horatio, Marcellus and Barnardo then decide that they would do the right thing and confront Prince Hamlet about the situation at hand for they felt that he had a right to know. With this scene, Shakespeare reveals the spark of Hamlet’s madness, and the start to a true tragedy.

HAMLET: I know my course. The spirit that I have seen/ May be a devil hath power/ T’ assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps,/ Out of my weakness and my melancholy,/ As he is very potent with such spirits,/ Abuses me to damn me.
(2.2.27-32)

This quotation is displayed in the first of Hamlet’s many soliloquies. This is just after Hamlet has seen the ghost for the first time with his own eyes and the first time the ghost had spoken a word to anybody. At this point, Prince Hamlet has potentially learned that his father, the former king, Hamlet, was murdered in his sleep by none other than the present king, Claudius. Hamlet states that he is open to the fact that he might be hallucinating his fathers’ ghost; he is open to the possibility that his imagination may have conjured up a “pleasing shape” which could put his depressed state of mind to a satisfying ease. Hamlet wants to do what he thinks is right, and he wants to attempt to figure out the truth about his father’s death. Perhaps Shakespeare is revealing that Hamlet is a very level headed character. He has kept his sanity thus far, regardless of the agony and suffering he has dealt with, and he would not let what could have been a simple case of wishful thinking, be the thing to push him over the edge.

Is there any other evidence of Hamlet (or any other character) witnessing other spirits, ghosts, or abnormal things that might support the argument on whether or not Hamlet truly is mad?; April 24, 2007 at 7:43 PM
Amy DelTorchio said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; April 24, 2007 at 9:44 PM
Amy DelTorchio said...: 1.1.28-34 “Horatio says 'tis but our fantasy
And will not let belief take hold of him
Touching this dreaded sight twice seen of us.
Therefore I have entreated him along
With us to watch the minutes of this night,
That if again this apparition come
He may approve our eyes and speak to it.”

In the first quote Marcellus is speaking to Barnardo while they are on watch. Horatio is with them listening to there conversation in disbelief. Horatio is criticizing what they have allegedly seen. In this scene Horatio is skeptical of everything Marcellus says about his encounter. Afterwards Horatio still doesn’t believe that there is a ghost but sits down and listens to their story nonetheless. In this quote Marcellus tells Barnardo how he begged Horatio to come on watch with them that night. If Horatio sees the ghost for himself he will know for sure they are speaking truthfully. He goes on to state that when the ghost appears Horatio he can see and speak to it if he pleases.
In Marcellus’s discussion with Barnardo he talks about how they both came across a ghost of some sort. “Touching this dreaded sight twice seen of us.” He is talking about the ghost directly and how it was not a pleasurable sight to see. It was frightening and they had seen it more than once. The motif is clearly shown in this quote showing that Marcellus and Barnardo’s run in must not be overlooked.

2.2.628-634 “…The spirit that I have seen
May be the devil, and the devil hath power
T' assume a pleasing shape. Yea, and perhaps
Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
As he is very potent with such spirits,
Abuses me to damn me. I'll have grounds
More relative than this. The play's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.”

In this quote Hamlet is alone discussing with himself on what he is going to do about what the ghost had told him. In this scene Hamlet had just finished watching the players performance. Everyone has now left and Hamlet is left alone. He begins to think of how he could reveal Claudius as a murderer. The players would act out the murder of his father and once Claudius becomes uncomfortable and pail he will make the crime he committed known. But after plotting this in his mind he questions what the ghost had said to him that night. He ponders if the things he said were true, if the ghost was really a good spirit or not, and if the ghost was just taking advantage of him. By then end of his debate with himself he decides to go on with his plan anyhow and expose Claudius. The truth of the ghost begins to bother him “…The spirit that I have seen May be the devil, and the devil hath power T' assume a pleasing shape.” Hamlet makes it know that he doesn’t fully trust the ghost and its appearance as his father. He knows that the spirit could very well be the devil who can become any form he wishes, and perhaps this devil had taken the form of his father. The truth behind what the ghost had discussed with Hamlet also lingers in his mind. “Out of my weakness and my melancholy, As he is very potent with such spirits, Abuses me to damn me. I'll have grounds” The situation that Hamlet is in with his father’s death and his mothers remarriage so soon has left him sad and weak both physically and mentally. The ghost coming at this time makes Hamlet second guess its true purpose. He believes that this spirit might just be taking advantage of him because of the state that he is in. The presence of the spirit is in his mind and taking over him. He thinks it might have came just to hurt him and cause terrible outcomes but doesn’t care. Yet he feels that he needs a better reason to follow through with his plans that what he knows know from the spirit. He counteracts his thoughts on this though by saying how he is going to follow through with his plan anyway. “The play's the thing Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.”

In Hamlets thoughts he is unsure about what he should do, how to react, and what to believe when it comes to the spirit. He debates the truth of the spirit a great amount. “The spirit that I have seen May be the devil, the devil hath power T' assume a pleasing shape.” This quote shows how unsure Hamlet is about what he was actually seeing while talking to the spirit. He questions if the true form of the spirit was his father or just a disguise. The spirit could represent a demon like the devil that Hamlet speaks of. It could be a symbol for the awful things to come later on. The spirit represents the uncertainties Hamlet has in his life. He is so weak at this point in time that the spirit seems to represent the one thing that is strong in his life right now. “Out of my weakness and my melancholy, As he is very potent with such spirits, Abuses me to damn me. I'll have grounds More relative than this. The play's the thing Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.” Hamlet does say that he wants a better reason than what the spirit says to him to go through with his plan. But he decides to continue on with his plan nevertheless showing how he is not as strong as the spirit. The spirit is strength, and even thought Hamlet is unsure of the spirits story he will go through with on what he has heard anyway showing that he is weaker.

Does the ghost/spirit take advantage of Hamlets depressed state of mind and try to make him more crazy/mad? Or does the ghost/spirit talk to Hamlet to help him out of his strange state of mind it just does not go as planned.; April 24, 2007 at 9:46 PM
kacieo said...: "So art thou to revenge, when though shalt hear."
1.5.12

The ghost of King Hamelt is speaking to his son Hamlet. The situation in which this quote happens is when the ghost and Hamlet first talk. The ghost is saying that once he tells Hamlet what he tells him, Hamlet is going to want to take revenge. After knowing what is recently bothering Hamlet and knowing the situatuion that he is in with his mother, dead father, and Uncle it is easy to infer that the revenge and problem that the ghost is going to reveal is going to have to do with that sitaution.

"I find thee apt,
And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed
That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf,
Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear.
35 'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,
A serpent stung me. So the whole ear of Denmark
Is by a forgèd process of my death
Rankly abused. But know, thou noble youth,
The serpent that did sting thy father's life
40 Now wears his crown."
(1.5.38-47)

The ghost of King Hamlet is speaking in this quote, to his son Hamelt. The situation in which the quote appears is the during the first encounter in which the ghost of King Hamlet and Hamelt talk. The Ghost has beckoned Hamlet to follow him, he does and they have a conversation. What the Ghost is trying to get across in these lines is that the way he died is not the way that everyone thinks. Everyone thinks that the way that he died was an accident when he was laying in the orchard and got stung by a serpent. The real way that he says he died was by murder by the man that now wears the crown, which is Hamlet's uncle Claudius.

Both of these quotations relate to the motif of ghosts and spirits because both of the quote are said by the ghost of king hamlet. the way that shakespeare treats the motif is leaving it open ended for you to figure out whether the spirit is real or not or evil or good. the spirit wants "revenge" which is an extreme measure and being able to trust it is up to the reader.

is the truth that the ghost reveals true and how do you know whether or not to trust it? If you were in the situation of Hamlet would you trust the ghost of your father?; April 25, 2007 at 7:02 PM
Anonymous said...: QUOTES
GHOST: “Do not forget. This visitation/ Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose./ But look, amazement on thy mother sits./ O, step between her and her fighting soul./ conceit in weakest bodies strongest works./ Speak to her Hamlet.” (3.4.126-131)

In this quote, the ghost of former King Hamlet is speaking to his son, Prince Hamlet. Here Hamlet begins to rant to his mother about how she has dishonored his father and he starts to try to make Gertrude feel guilty for marrying Claudius so quickly after her first husbands death. I think this quote is significant because it appears that Hamlet always needs a reminder to watch his temper so he does not get too carried away and do something he regrets to his mother. In this quote, Shakespeare reveals that King Hamlet’s Ghost is watching Prince Hamlet’s every move, and making sure that he is doing the right thing and if he knows Hamlet is in the wrong, he quickly appears to keep him on track.

QUEEN: To whom do you speak this?
HAMLET: Do you see nothing there?
QUEEN: Nothing at all; yet all that is I see. (3.4.149-152)

This passage is a conversation between the Queen Gertrude and Prince Hamlet. The ghost of King Hamlet had just appeared to remind his son that he is not to badger his mother but to remain focused on the task at hand; Claudius. Here, Hamlet realizes that he is the only one who can communicate with the ghost. By Gertrude saying, “To whom do you speak this?” she is suggesting that nothing exists. Later when she states, “nothing at all; yet all that is I see” she confirms that nothing is there, and if something was she would see it. Shakespeare is furthermore supporting the fact that society believes that Hamlet is mad. Shakespeare also reveals the strong bond between mother and son. Gertrude is certain that Hamlet has gone mad, but she still tries to support him and figure out what can be done to help him.

HAMLET: Save me and hover o’er me with your wings,/ You heavenly guards!—What would your gracious/ figure?
QUEEN: Alas, he’s mad. (3.4.118-121)

This is a short passages spoken between Prince Hamlet and Queen Gertrude. At this point in the act, the ghost of former King Hamlet had just arrived. Prince Hamlet was in the middle of a sentence before this quote, and got cut off by the presence of the ghost. Perhaps because Hamlet was so suddenly distracted by the ghost, Shakespeare is trying to reveal that Hamlet has a one-track mind, and he is on the edge always looking for signs of this particular spirit. This may support the fact that Hamlet is potentially imagining the spirit altogether.

QUESTION
Do the ghosts and spirits always represent something bad is going to happen or something horrifying is said to horrify and corrupt ones mind?

I would say that the ghosts and spirits do not always foreshadow that something bad is going to happen. After reading the entire book of Hamlet, I have discovered the ghost has in fact helped Prince Hamlet a lot in a positive way. For example, in act 3 scene 4, one will read about how the ghost shows up in the middle of Hamlet arguing with his mother, Queen Gertrude. The ghost reminds Hamlet not to try and scold his mother, for she will find out the truth soon enough, and suffer enough personally. Therefore I do not agree with what Christina said. I agree more along the lines with what Amy DelTorchio said. I believe that the ghost appears not to take advantage of Hamlet’s state of mind, but to try and help him out of a sticky situation and to remind Hamlet to stay focused on the task at hand.

Where my motif appears:
3.4.118-120
3.4.126-131
3.4.141
3.4.142-148
3.4.150-156; May 17, 2007 at 1:57 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; May 17, 2007 at 1:57 PM