Ghost In Hamlet

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Pages: 4

The Psychological View on the Belief of Ghosts in Hamlet In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Hamlet finds himself encountering his dead father in a ghostly form; Hamlet surely does believe that this ghost is real, but it leads him in a dark predicament. Upon hearing that some some ghostly entity that resembles his father has appeared, he can not help but want to witness it himself and make contact. “If it assume my noble father’s person, I’ll speak to it, though hell itself should gape and bid me hold my peace.” He does see his ghostly father, and although it brings some sort of comfort to the very confused and depressed Hamlet, it also brings him more madness. The Ghost has revealed the true reason of his death, the King’s brother has murdered him, and has asked Hamlet to avenge him. “If thou didst ever thy dear father love── Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.” Hamlet’s undeniable belief that his father has visited him in ghost form left him with this constant displacement from who he really is. The appearance of a ghost can mean many things, and for the person witnessing …show more content…
Meaning that our brain can still make a rational adult believe in things like magic and ghostly entities (Subbotsky 2011). Our brain is often making non-human objects or experiences more human-like. It is similar to “children’s tendencies to draw faces on things that do not have intentionality, such as the sun.” Most people have done something like this, even as we age. A potato chip and a clock at times have human features and it is because our brains put them there. Humans want to find meaningful patterns to strange phenomenons and that is why they feel like they can feel an unearthly presence or communicate with the dead (Cook 2012). People are basically giving paranormal occurrences a face and a body to make them as human as possible, resulting in the belief of