The young Hamlet together with the watchmen, Horatio and Marcellus seem to be perturbed at the few apparitions of the deceased King Hamlet’s ghost. These queer encounters raise questions about the nature of the ghost: is it an evil spirit, a messenger of a bad omen, or Hamlet’s paternal spirit? Interpreting the role of the phantom, these characters oscillate between belief and disbelief. For example, Horatio sees the specter as a messenger of an imminent war between Norway and Denmark, relating this omen to those that spread fear among the “Roman streets” prior to Caesar’s death. First, this omen confuses Horatio, his ” mind’s eye”; this methaphor emphasizes the transcendent power of the human mind to see a silent world. The ghost doesn’t talk to him, letting his mind to immerse in wonder and fear. The ghost of a noble person is royal too, so it expects obedience from his inferiors in rank, like Horatio here. Horatio dares to demand the ghost to speak: “Stay! Speak, speak! I charge thee, speak (Act 1, 51). The phantom doesn’t talk to him, but it uses a more powerful communication tool to underscore the scope of its presence: the crow of a cock. This is an awakening, sunny signal to the enlightening of his mind to do something to restore grace and virtue in Denmark.
The dialogue between Hamlet and his father’s ghost has a special nuance here because for the first time “words” equalize the power of “mind”. Here, words are arrows of excruciated pain shot to release Hamlet and the ghost’s internalized suffering. Their pain erodes the surface of their bodies: Hamlet wishes that his “flesh would melt”, while the ghost’s skin is “lazar-like”, with “loathsome crust”, outlining the burning pain caused by the sin of incest. In essence, there is a very special father-son bond between them, especially when Hamlet calls the phantom an “old mole”. This mocking remark implies that they know each others’ deepest secrets: their inner anguish. Just like a mole, Hamlet’s ghost is digging under ground where it finds its son’s grief. Prince Hamlet who sees his dead father in his “mind’s eye”, doubtfully, identifies himself with his spirit: “Rest, rest, perturbed spirit (Act 1, 181).
