Home > Hamlet Summary & Study Guide > Character Analysis > Ghost (Character Analysis)
Hamlet | Ghost (Character Analysis)
Of the other major characters in Hamlet, the Ghost is important because his demand for revenge sets the plot into motion. The apparition's ambiguous role in the drama reflects the general confusion about spirits in Shakespeare's day. Throughout the tragedy, the Ghost is alternately viewed as an illusion, a portent foreshadowing danger to Denmark, a spirit returning from the grave because of a task left undone, a spirit from purgatory sent with divine permission, and a devil who assumes the form of a dead person to lure mortals to doom. While Hamlet is chiefly concerned with...
[The entire page is 663 words long]
Join eNotes
The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:
Summary and Analysis – Themes – Characters – And much more...
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
- Hamlet: Introduction
- Hamlet: Summary
- Hamlet: William Shakespeare Biography
- Hamlet: Reading Shakespeare
- Hamlet: List of Characters
- Hamlet: Historical Background
-
Hamlet: Summary and Analysis
- Act I, Scene 1 Summary and Analysis
- Act I, Scene 2 Summary and Analysis
- Act I, Scene 3 Summary and Analysis
- Act I, Scene 4 Summary and Analysis
- Act I, Scene 5 Summary and Analysis
- Act II, Scene 1 Summary and Analysis
- Act II, Scene 2 Summary and Analysis
- Act III, Scene 1 Summary and Analysis
- Act III, Scene 2 Summary and Analysis
- Act III, Scene 3 Summary and Analysis
- Act III, Scene 4 Summary and Analysis
- Act IV, Scene 1 Summary and Analysis
- Act IV, Scene 2 Summary and Analysis
- Act IV, Scene 3 Summary and Analysis
- Act IV, Scene 4 Summary and Analysis
- Act IV, Scene 5 Summary and Analysis
- Act IV, Scene 6 Summary and Analysis
- Act IV, Scene 7 Summary and Analysis
- Act V, Scene 1 Summary and Analysis
- Act V, Scene 2 Summary and Analysis
- Hamlet: Critical Commentary
- Hamlet: Quizzes
- Hamlet: Essential Facts
- Hamlet: Essential Passages
- Hamlet: Themes
- Hamlet: Character Analysis
- Hamlet: Principal Topics
-
Hamlet: Essays
- Hamlet's Delay
- Exploring Hamlet's Hesitation
- Is Hamlet Sane?
- The Ghost: Is He Really Hamlet's Father?
- The Character of Ophelia: Why Does She Go Mad?
- To Thine Own Self Be True: An Analysis
- Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
- Minor Characters and the Number Three
- To See or Not to See: Fortinbras in Two Film Productions of Hamlet
- Hamlet and Macbeth: A Comparison
- The Theme of Pretense in Shakespeare's Hamlet
- Analysis of Act Five of Shakespeare's Hamlet
- Character Analysis of Horatio
- Comment on Hamlet's "To Be or Not to Be" Soliloquy
- Staging for Shakespeare's Hamlet: Act II, Scene ii, Lines 85-221
- The Nature of Hamlet's Character
- Hamlet's Delay: An Objective and Subjective Analysis Compared
- Analysis of Three Critical Works on Hamlet
- Hamlet: History, Religion, and Myth
- Hamlet: Criticism
- Hamlet: Selected Quotes
- Hamlet: Suggested Essay Topics
- Hamlet: Sample Essay Outlines
- Hamlet: Modern Connections
- Hamlet: Media Adaptations
- Hamlet: FAQs
- Hamlet: Bibliography and Further Reading
- Hamlet: Pictures
- Copyright
Related Topics
Tell a friend about Hamlet at eNotes.
