Read the lecture Hamlet before commencing discussion.
The Ghost is the catalyst that sets in motion the tragedy of Prince Hamlet. It is, first of all, part of the first phase of the drama, the protasis—here an expository speech providing essential background information: that Hamlet’s father did not perish of a serpent’s sting (1.5.35-36), but was poisoned by his brother Claudius, now King of Denmark.
Examine lines 59-73 and describe in detail the effects of the poison on Old Hamlet’s body.
Adultery is mentioned once (42) and incest twice (42, 83). In what sense are these charges significant? Note that the question of whether a brother marrying his widowed sister-in-law is incestuous was not firmly decided in Shakespeare’s day. There was both religious and historical precedent for allowing such marriages. Indeed, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I’s father, had married Catherine of Aragon, his brother’s widow (though when he sought a divorce to marry Anne Boleyn, one of his arguments was that the marriage had never been lawful).
And what about the charge of adultery? Do we have any other evidence that Gertrude and Claudius were in a relationship prior to Old Hamlet’s death? The reason I mention this is that Gertrude’s marrying Claudius may have a legitimate motive. According to the Danish rules of succession, it was the brother, not the son, who inherited the throne of a deceased king. In England, of course, it was (and is) the first-born son (or daughter if there is no male issue). These differing customs collide in the play, for no one seems to question Claudius’s right to the throne—with the exception of Hamlet himself, who at one point calls Claudius “a cutpurse of the empire and the rule” (3.4.100). So perhaps Gertrude wishes to ensure that the crown go to her son when Claudius dies (provided, of course, that she bears him no children of his own).
Other questions to consider (for you to answer and discuss):
What is the Ghost’s/Old Hamlet’s status? Where is he, and why?
Why does the Ghost differentiate between Claudius and Gertrude in terms of their deserved punishment (85-90)? And what does the Ghost mean by his command to Hamlet, “Taint not thy mind” (85)?
Notice the two central commands emerging from Hamlet’s first encounter with the Ghost: “Revenge my foul and most unnatural murder” (25) and “Remember me” (91). This is a revenge tragedy, and yet the Ghost’s final words to Hamlet here are “Remember me” (91). How are the two commands connected?
And which of the commands is most on Hamlet’s mind immediately following the Ghost’s exit? Examine and comment on lines 92-112, paying attention to the order of his concerns.
Finally, what do you make of Hamlet’s very strange gesture in lines 107-108, where he reaches for his “tables” (a kind of notebook). He needs to write this down so he doesn’t forget? How could he possibly forget something so harrowing? What’s going on here? Any ideas? (Though I have my own answers to many of the questions put to you in this course, some—this one included—are a genuine bafflement at puzzling passages.)
Well, the simple answer is that he’s just seen his dead father’s ghost who claims to have been murdered by his brother, Hamlet’s uncle who has just married his mother!
But the notoriously melancholy Dane is out of sorts prior to his first encounter with the ghost. How, then, do we explain Hamlet’s behavior earlier in Act 1? T.S. Eliot once famously argued that the play Hamlet is an artistic failure because its hero displays an emotion far in excess of his circumstances. Hamlet has no “objective correlative,” no situation matching his extraordinary grief and depression. Is this a fair appraisal of the play?
Examine Hamlet’s exchange with Claudius and Gertrude when he first appears in the play (1.2.64-73). How would you describe this exchange—the mood, motives, and intentions of all that is said? Is everyone being straight with everyone else? Do we recognize this sort of discussion in our own relationships?
Now examine Hamlet’s answer to Gertrude’s question, “Why seems it so particular with thee?” (75-86). Two questions: (1) What is Hamlet claiming here? (2) To what does he implicitly compare himself and why does it matter?
Now examine Hamlet’s first of seven great soliloquies (1.2.129-59). What do you find most striking and why?
Please post any questions you have about Act 1, or point to particular passages from or aspects of the play you’d like to discuss.