Shakespeare and His Ghosts Presented by: Harvinder,Qais, Zaynab and Julia

Elizabethan/Jacobean ideas about ghosts PURGATORY = (in Catholic doctrine) a place or state of suffering inhabited by the souls of sinners who are expiating their sins before going to heaven. 1509-1558 : Significant religious change. Catholics: Believed in purgatory Protestants: Believed in ghosts as demons, but not purgatory Shakespeare’s beliefs? -Audience would appreciate Hamlet’s dilemma. Real or not? Visible to one person (crazy person) E.g Macbeth, Julius Caesar Society and audience. Why are the ghosts used? (purpose) E.g: ghost of Banquo (Macbeth) “Confin’d to fast in fires Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature Are burnt and purg’d away” -Ghost to Hamlet.

Scholars and Playwrights Elizabethan and Jacobean playwrights engaged with new ways of thinking. The purpose of ghosts in early modern drama: Frighten the audience (hence ENGAGING them) Explore the VALIDITY of character’s actions/responsibilities Introduce moral rather than supernatural frameworks. SHAKESPEARE: Makes dramatic use of what was an abstract point of theology. In Hamlet, as in no other play of the period, we find the very uncertainties of Shakespeare’s contemporaries about the nature of ghosts TURNED INTO DRAMA

Debating ghosts...real or not? VISIBLE TO ONE PERSON SEEN BY SEVERAL WITNESSES Example : MACBETH Supernatural elements (the dagger, Banquo’s ghost, apparitions) - Only seen by Macbeth Lack ontological existence- enables exploration of MOTIVE, PHYSIOLOGY and EVIL Banquo’s ghost- EXPOSES and CLARIFIES questions concerning morality and existence of evil Example: HAMLET Seen by: Barnardo, Marcellus, Horatio and Hamlet (separate witnesses, unusual) Ontological existence=confirmed Horatio and Hamlet (scholars) grapple with the MEANING of the apparition Ghost of Old Hamlet- INTRODUCES questions concerning moral certainties linked to VENGEANCE

Seneca The Younger Lucius Annaeus Seneca was an Ancient Roman dramatist and his work strongly influenced Early modern playwrights to use Seneca’s dramatic conventions, such as the use of ghosts, for their own work. These early modern plays utilise the dramatic forms of a previous era to shed light on the concerns of their own, which leads to a kind of complexity that mirrors the extreme nature of the Elizabethan/Jacobean era. However there were some differences in the late 16th century compared to their uses in Seneca’s texts. Instead of being wailing insistent spectres that emerge from Hades to demand vengeance, early modern ghosts (for example Banquo’s ghost in Macbeth) are quite restrained and sometimes even silent. The ghost helps expose and clarify the motivation and influences of key characters, a role exemplified by Banquo’s ghost in Macbeth. This play is not a revenge tragedy and Banquo’s ghost does not demand vengeance. Instead it raises questions about morality, the existence of evil, and the extent to which Macbeth can be judged for his actions.

Melancholic ghosts

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‘Out of my weakness and melancholy’ Ghost’s AUTHORITY is UNDERMINED: EXAMPLE: MACBETH EXAMPLE: HAMLET ‘Out of my weakness and melancholy’ Macbeth speculates this possibility in relation to the dagger apparition: ‘A false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?’ Humoral psycho-physiology: Ancient Greek idea of how our ACTIONS and overall health is determined by an IMBALANCE between ‘HUMOURS’ within the body Ghost’s AUTHORITY is UNDERMINED: Spirit may be a result of Satan's MANIPULATION of his STATE OF MELANCHOLY Ghost is NOT Satan but a TANGIBLE REPRESENTATION of the protagonist’s DISTURBED MIND Talk more about macbeth when discussing and less about hamlet

So...how does this apply to Hamlet? Central problem for Hamlet: Is the spirit a DIVINE AGENT urging Hamlet to address the MORAL IMBALANCE at court? ‘A spirit of health or a goblin damn’d?’ OR A result of SATAN MANIPULATING his state of ‘melancholy’? ‘Out of my weakness and melancholy’

Looking further... DRAMATIC DEVICE: CATALYST Exploration of a CENTRAL CHARACTER’S LEGITIMACY as a REVENGER Introduces MORAL QUESTIONS linked to VENGEANCE SYMBOLISM: HAMLET= SYMBOL the CONFLICTED EARLY MODERN MAN LOYALTY HUMOURAL PHYSIO-PSYCHOLOGY REVENGE= ‘wild justice’ AMBIGUITY: Hamlet LACKS MORAL CERTAINTY of Senecan revengers. GHOST CATALYST symbol = conflicted modern man- Scholar, Horatio ‘a guilty thing’ grapple w/ meaning of apparition (separate witnesses)