LO: To consider Hamlets feelings and doubts towards what he has been tasked to do.

The Elizabethan era was a violent one and the lifetime of Queen Elizabeth saw the executions and premature deaths of many men and women. Elizabethans held three views on ghosts: Catholics believed they were spirits released from purgatory for a purpose; Protestants held that they were devils; and sceptics thought them the illusions of melancholy minds. The ghost is a feature of revenge tragedy the tragic hero is spurred to avenge a murder by a ghost (see The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd). Ghosts were aligned with devil/evil which Hamlet himself proposes later in the play. The ghosts preyed on fears of the period, in which people were afraid of dying unconfessed. If they died without confession, they would remain in purgatory (unhouselled). Traditional folklore suggested that a guilty person touching the corpse would cause it to bleed. It was believed that ghosts re-animated corpses (zombies) which was widely seen in Dr. Faustus by Marlowe, one of Shakespeares contemporaries. In a key scene, Faustus kisses Helen of Troy, saying make me immortal with a kiss. This is the final nail in the coffin that ensures his damnation; having consorted with a demon disguised as Helen and he actually knows it when he does it.

TASK: Read Act 1, Scenes 4 & 5 of Hamlet.

In Act 1: Scene 5, Hamlet has been informed of his fathers murder by the ghost (King Hamlet).

He presents a variety of emotions in his responses to the ghost.

O my prophetic soul! Mine uncle!

TASK: Read the responses given by Hamlet and write a paragraph (P.E.E.) to the following question: Write a short paragraph explaining Hamlets reaction to the ghosts request. (Is his behaviour typical of a [revenge tragedy] hero?)

Is Hamlets response heroic?