The first sign of tragedy occurs when the ghost, which is later revealed to be the murdered farther of Hamlet and the former King. After the Ghost appears and re-appears several times they conclude that it will not speak to them and realize that it will only speak to Hamlet, so they decided to inform him of their sightings and that they believe the ghost is an imitation of Hamlets father. This indicates that there is something special and different about Hamlet, even before he is introduced properly to the reader.
The main themes that are introduced in this act are betrayal and vengeance. Hamlets fathers ghost appears and tells Hamlet that he wants to speak to him alone, the ghost then informs that he was murdered by his brother (Hamlets uncle) who is the present king. However, he tells Hamlet to kill Claudius to get revenge he also constantly tells Hamlet to 'Swear' that he will do it.
After reading his first soliloquy, we think that Hamlet is simply upset by the loss of his farther and his mother's decision to re-marry his uncle, Claudius, so quickly. He says that because of this, there is nothing in his life worth living for and he considers suicide ('flesh would melt' line 129). However, despite his anger, he says that he must 'Hold my tongue' (line 159) and keep his feelings quiet, this could be because he loves his mother and doesn't want to hurt her and he must remain loyal to the crown - he cannot criticize the King or he could face a punishment.
Questions I had from reading act 1 was:
Why did Hamlets uncle do that to his brother? because he was close to his mother? wanted air to the throne because Hamlet was to young to become king when his dad died.
Useful comments. Is the tragedy that Hamlet faces a moral dilemma? He is not a man of action? What about the sub-plot?
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