Hamlet Act 1 Scene 4 Analysis

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In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, there are many powerful and enriched portions of text that are pivotal to the understanding of the play as a whole. Such a dialogue exists at the beginning of Scene 4 of Act 1. In this scene, Hamlet first meets the ghost, who he presumes to be the ghost of old Hamlet, and his dialogue is enriched with contrasting things such as heaven and hell. Shakespeare conveys Hamlet’s initial emotions as surprise, when the ghost first appears, Hamlet says, “Angels and ministers of grace defend us!” This initial reaction can be considered an overwhelming state of surprise and this line includes many religious aspects. By saying “Angels and ministers of grace,” Shakespeare is suggesting that Hamlet is a religious man and that he is calling upon God for protection from this ghost he has just met. Shakespeare suggests that Hamlet continues his intrigue, when he says, “Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damned.” This metaphor of heaven …show more content…
Shakespeare’s use of this metaphor conveys Hamlet’s thought process to the reader because he regarded his father as the epitome of a man and the most holy in his eyes, and by Hamlet questioning the origin of the ghost as being a “goblin damned” suggests he is still extremely guarded. Shakespeare continues the opposing Heaven and Hell metaphor when Hamlet says, “Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,” suggesting that the ghost could have only come from these two places. The description of “airs from heaven” suggests that heaven provides this calmness like a slow breeze to a person, but the description of “blasts from hell” suggests that this will give anxiety, pain, and horror to whoever interacts with it. This is a key insight because the ghost believes that it is old Hamlet from hell, and it eventually brings pain and turmoil into the life of Hamlet. The final
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