Both Shakespeare in writing Hamlet and Oscar Wilde in writing "The Canterville Ghost" understand and conceive of reality as moral. In the vision of both authors, there is an afterlife, but both agree an impure person cannot attain it.

In Hamlet, it is Hamlet's father who must walk the earth at night as ghost, while by day he lives in purgatory until his sins are burned away. In "The Canterville Ghost," it is Sir Simon who must walk the earth as a ghost because of the crime of murdering his wife. Both individuals would like to be released from their ghostly state. King Hamlet, Hamlet's father, tells Hamlet that his hair would stand on end if he knew what his father suffered in purgatory. Sir Simon confides in Virginia Otis his deep desire to be released to die and be in peace. Both ghosts are dependent on living humans to achieve their goals.

The ghost of King Hamlet differs, however, from Sir Simon. Perhaps because he was so recently killed, King Hamlet's mind is still on earth, and rather than ask his son to pray that his father's soul be released from purgatory, King Hamlet demands that Hamlet avenge his death by killing Claudius. In contrast, Sir Simon yearns for the pure hearted Virginia to say the prayers he cannot speak that will release him to die.

Both Shakespeare and Wilde examine the issue of a person dying and becoming a ghost. In both cases, this is depicted as an undesirable state. Shakespeare's ghost, however, seems to be lengthening the time he might spend in purgatory in what he demands of his son while Wilde's ghost achieves a final peace.