Act 1 Scene 1 of William Shakespeare's Hamlet

Act 1 Scene 1 of William Shakespeare's Hamlet

On the battlements of Castle Elsinore, Bernardo arrives to relieve

Francisco of

his watch. Horatio and Marcellus arrive and greet Francisco. They

talk of the ghost

they have seen ‘this apparition’. Marcellus has invited Horatio to

come and see the

ghost for himself. Shakespeare immediately sets the scene, which will

be prevalent

throughout the whole play, which is concerned with what is truth and

what is illusion.

Horatio doubts the men’s reports, but before Bernardo can reaffirm

what he has seen,

the ghost appears. Horatio admits that he can see the ghost himself

and he recognizes

it as the recently deceased King Hamlet. The guards are anticipating

this haunting and

we can tell this from the line, “Who’s there?” This sentence is short

and snappy which

creates a sense of expectation and tension, which continues into the

act.

On a symbolic level there is a sense that something is not right and w

feeling

of unease, especially portrayed through the character of Fransisco. We

later find out

that the ‘divine right of kings’ has gone adrift as Hamlet should be

the king not

Claudius and this therefore will confirm Fransisco’s bad feelings.

The frequent use of punctuation such as exclamation marks and commas

are

used to suggest jumpiness. “Stand, Ho! Who is there?” The comma is

used as a pause

to create tension and the exclamation marks shows Fransisco’s alarm.

Horatio takes a very sceptical view and rational perspective on the

situation,

“What has this thing appeared again tonight?” but this line does

howeve...

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ghosts, and

normally they represent the spirit of God as opposed to witches, who

were sent by the

devil. The appearance of ghosts could convey a variety of meanings. In

this instance,

the appearance of this particular ghost, dressed in his armour

signifies that he could

also be a soldier returning to complete a task. There are clearly

religious undertones

this play, and scholars argue whether it represents Shakespeare’s own

Roman

Catholic point of view, and he uses Hamlet to express this in

Protestant Elizabethan

England.

The bulk of the play takes place within the walls of Elsinore Castle,

which

Hamlet later describes as a prison. The walls of the castle will

witness many cruel

deeds, which will have a dramatic influence on all those contained

within the walls.