The play depicts the story of Hamlet, a deceased king whose ghost is found by watchmen and brought to his son prince Hamlet. The ghost speaks to the prince and reveals how king Hamlet was killed by his brother Claudius who has taken over the throne and married the former king’s wife Gertrude who is also the mother to prince Hamlet. The ghost orders Hamlet to exercise revenge on his uncle who executed the beastly act on his brother in a bid to take over power and marry his wife. The prince displays a change in behavior and personality upon hearing this shocking revelation and this has Claudius and Gertrude worried, considering that he vows to avenge the demise of his father. The play brings to life a broad spectrum of themes including revenge, mortality, appearance &reality, corruption, madness, and death. It also employs the use of various literary techniques and elements that the writer has exhibited which include imagery, allusion, comic relief, foreshadowing, suspense, and irony.
Obsession creeps into Hamlet following the revelation of how his father came to meet his death in the hands of his own brother. The king’s ghost is stumbled upon on a dark night in the outskirts of the castle when Bernarde, an officer is headed to relieve a fellow watchman called Francisco of duty for the night. The ghost of the dead king makes an appearance to the men who are skeptical on seeing the immense resemblance visible to the demised king. The specter is dressed in armor that king Hamlet once wore when Denmark waged war against Norway and apart from that it was enormously identical to the former leader. Horatio is quick to dismiss the notion and possibility of the ghost appearing as he turns to his fellow guards and says “twill not appear” (Hamlet I.i.29). Despite seeing the ghost, Horatio is quick to dismiss it and says he does not believe in the remotest of possibilities of a ghost appearing (Hamlet I. i.144-146).