Supernatural Element in Hamlet

SUPERNATURAL ELEMENT IN HAMLET

THE ROLE & SIGNIFICANCE OF GHOST IN “HAMLET”

Moulton comments on supernatural elements in the plays of Shakespeare as:

                  “Supernatural agency has a place in the world of Shakespeare.

                   Shakespeare’s supernatural agencies  are the  instruments  of

                   darkness”.

It was customary with the people of Elizabethan age that they were curious about the mysteries of death. As a result they promoted superstitious approach and Shakespeare effectively used this public tendency in his plays.

Shakespeare has introduced supernatural elements in his plays. Thus we have witches in “Macbeth”, the fairies in “The Tempest” and “The Mid Summer Night’s Dream” and the ghost in “Hamlet” and “Julius Caesar”. His supernatural element is not as rude and rough as that of his contemporary dramatists.

The ghost in “Hamlet” has three-fold dramatic significance. It contributes to the general tragic atmosphere of the play, motivates the entire action of the play and finally it offers a certain moral effect to the audience. Irving Ribner says :

               “The Ghost  indicates the goal Hamlet must attain, and the play  becomes

                 a dramatic symbol of the struggle man must endure in order to learn the

                 answers of faith and submission”.

Shakespeare, while introducing supernatural, provides a horrible atmosphere. As in the opening scene of “Hamlet”, we find “It is cold and dark night”, and Francisco is “sick at heart”. The ghost had appeared to them in the previous two nights and it was a dreadful sight.

The conversation about the Ghost in a dark and chilly night creates an atmosphere of tension and fear. When Hamlet is informed about the appearance of the ghost, he believes that some calamity is about to befall. As he says:

                                                           “My father’s spirit in arms!

                                               All is not well,

                                                           I doubt some foul play”.

We can see that the Ghost has a very significant role in the play. When Hamlet sees the Ghost of his father he realizes that his feeling about “some foul play” is true. The Ghost reveals the secret of king’s murder as he says:

                                       “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life

                                            Now wears his crown”.

The Ghost imposes upon Hamlet the duty of avenging his father’s murder and advises him,

                                                “Let not the royal bed of Denmark be

                       A couch for luxury and damned incest.”

Thus the ghost is certainly the motive force which puts into motion the action of the tragedy. It is solely through the ghost that an unsuspected murder is brought to light. Verity says:

             “Without the ghost’s initial revelation of truth to Hamlet, there would have

               been no occasion for revenge, in other words, no tragedy of Hamlet”.

The Ghost makes its second appearance due to Hamlet’s delay in the duty of avenging his father’s murder. The Ghost makes very clear the reason of its coming:

                                           “Do not forget; this visitation

                                               Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose”.

It appears in the closet scene. It is visible only to Hamlet and Gertrude is ignorant of its appearance and says:

“This is the very coinage of your brain”.

In the closet scene, Queen Gertrude is not able to see the Ghost. Some critics say that the Queen is not morally pure, so she was unable to see the Ghost.

           

Hamlet is doubtful about the appearance of the ghost and the story told by the ghost. Sometimes he assumes that it is a devil taking the shape of his father to tempt him to murder. There are some questions in the mind of Hamlet which prevent him from taking any hasty step. He thinks, can it be right to do it or noble to kill a defenseless man or is he deceived by the ghost? So in order to confirm the truth of the ghost’s words, Hamlet puts on an antic disposition and launches a dumb show and mousetrap to prick the conscience of Claudius.

The Ghost is not the product of Hamlet’s mind. In fact, it has also been witnessed by others. Thus, the reader is convinced that the Ghost is not a vision of imagination.

           

Careless of being Shakespeare himself as a believer or non-believer of supernatural, he can rightly be attributed for making an effective use of it in his plays. Hamlet was written in an age when people had faith in ultimate power of the supernatural. Thus Shakespeare’s play Hamlet abounds with the same. It is obvious that Shakespeare knew that:

“There is a divinity that shapes our ends.”

           

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