Act 1, Scene 5 — Hamlet — Study Shakespeare

The argument The Ghost finally speaks: Claudius murdered the king by pouring poison in his ear. Hamlet swears revenge — and immediately starts building his trap. By the scene's end, the course of the play is set and Hamlet is already alone.

Enter Ghost and Hamlet.

First appearance

HAMLET

His response to the Ghost's revelation goes through three phases in this scene: immediate, apocalyptic vow to act; rapid philosophical digression and self-consciousness; and then controlled, strategic planning with Horatio and Marcellus. Watch the speed of the first phase and the almost instant arrival of the second. He cannot sustain the first mode for more than a few lines before his mind complicates it.

HAMLET [Hamlet demands the Ghost speak — no more leading him]

Whither wilt thou lead me? Speak, I’ll go no further.

Where are you taking me? Speak — I won't go any further without answers.

Where are you going? Speak to me — I need to know.

where why speak answer me

Why it matters The Ghost's first words establish his mode: he is not here to be pitied, he is here to give instructions. He frames the entire encounter as a transaction — I will tell you something terrible; in return, you will act on it. The structure of this exchange will define Hamlet's problem for the next four acts.

GHOST [the Ghost demands attention]

Mark me.

Pay close attention to me.

Listen carefully.

listen pay attention

HAMLET [Hamlet agrees]

I will.

I am listening.

I'm listening.

listening

GHOST ≋ verse [the Ghost reveals his suffering — bound to purgatorial flames]

My hour is almost come,

When I to sulph’rous and tormenting flames

Must render up myself.

My time in this place is running out. Soon I must return to the sulfurous, tormenting flames where I am bound — condemned to walk the night and fast from any pleasure until the sins of my flesh are burned away.

I don't have much time. Soon I have to go back to the fires of hell where I'm punished. I can only walk at night, suffering, until my sins are paid for.

flames torture hell boundaries can't stay

HAMLET [Hamlet's compassion — he pities the Ghost]

Alas, poor ghost!

Poor ghost — I pity you!

That's terrible.

poor ghost i pity you

GHOST ≋ verse [the Ghost rejects pity — demands attention to the revelation]

Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing

To what I shall unfold.

Don't pity me — listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you.

Forget pity — listen to what I'm going to say.

don't pity listen this matters

"Pity me not — but lend me thy serious hearing" The Ghost refuses sympathy and demands attention. This is a deliberate rhetorical move: it redirects Hamlet from grief to action, from feeling to listening. It is also the move of a manipulator — don't weep for me, just do what I ask.

HAMLET [Hamlet is bound by duty to hear]

Speak, I am bound to hear.

Speak — I am bound to listen to you.

Tell me. I'll listen.

speak i'll listen bound to

GHOST [the Ghost binds Hamlet to revenge by revealing what he's suffered]

So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.

And you will be bound to revenge when you hear what I have to tell.

And when you hear this, you'll be bound to revenge.

revenge bound when you hear you'll have to

HAMLET [Hamlet's urgent question]

What?

What do you mean?

what revenge for what

GHOST ≋ verse [the Ghost's revelation — he is Hamlet's father's spirit]

I am thy father’s spirit,

Doom’d for a certain term to walk the night,

And for the day confin’d to fast in fires,

Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature

Are burnt and purg’d away. But that I am forbid

To tell the secrets of my prison-house,

I could a tale unfold whose lightest word

Would harrow up thy soul; freeze thy young blood,

Make thy two eyes like stars start from their spheres,

Thy knotted and combined locks to part,

And each particular hair to stand on end

Like quills upon the fretful porpentine.

But this eternal blazon must not be

To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list!

If thou didst ever thy dear father love—

I am your father's spirit, condemned to walk the night for a set time, confined to fast in fires until the foul crimes committed during my life are burned away.

I'm your father's ghost. I'm trapped here, bound to these fires, until I've paid for my sins.

i'm your father trapped burning paying for sins

HAMLET [Hamlet's shock]

O God!

Oh God!

Oh my God!

oh god father

GHOST [the Ghost demands revenge]

Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.

Revenge his murder — foul, unnatural murder.

Avenge his murder.

revenge murder foul unnatural

HAMLET [Hamlet's shock at the word]

Murder!

Murder?

Murder?!

murder who

Why it matters 'Murder most foul' is the scene's axis. Everything before this is anticipation; everything after is consequence. Hamlet's response — 'haste me to know't, that I with wings as swift as meditation... may sweep to my revenge' — is the last time in the play he believes revenge will be simple.

GHOST ≋ verse [the Ghost describes the murder as the worst kind of murder]

Murder most foul, as in the best it is;

But this most foul, strange, and unnatural.

Murder — the worst kind of murder. Even the best murders are foul, but this was bizarre, strange, unnatural. I must tell you more, but time is short — listen.

Murder most foul — worse than any ordinary murder. It was bizarre and unnatural. I need to tell you, but I don't have much time.

murder foul strange unnatural listen

"murder most foul" The phrase is almost biblical in its simplicity — three words that carry the weight of the whole play. 'Most foul' because it is more than ordinary murder: it is fratricide, regicide, and betrayal of trust compressed into one act.

HAMLET ≋ verse [Hamlet begs to know the details — he will act swiftly]

Haste me to know’t, that I, with wings as swift

As meditation or the thoughts of love

May sweep to my revenge.

Tell me quickly! I'll act as fast as thought itself!

Tell me fast — I'll act immediately!

tell me quick i'll act swiftly

"with wings as swift as meditation or the thoughts of love" Hamlet's vow of speed is already revealing: he compares the swiftness of revenge to the swiftness of 'meditation.' Even in his most urgent moment, thinking is his first metaphor for action. The comparison will prove prophetic — his revenge will move at the speed of meditation, which is to say very slowly.

🎭 Dramatic irony 'With wings as swift as meditation... may sweep to my revenge.' Hamlet promises speed; the play delivers delay. This line, said in earnest, becomes one of the play's bitterest dramatic ironies.

GHOST ≋ verse [the Ghost acknowledges Hamlet's eagerness]

I find thee apt;

And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed

That rots itself in ease on Lethe wharf,

Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear.

’Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,

A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark

Is by a forged process of my death

Rankly abus’d; but know, thou noble youth,

The serpent that did sting thy father’s life

Now wears his crown.

I see you're eager. You'd be duller than a weed rotting on a riverbank if you weren't burning with desire to hear this. Listen now.

You're ready. Good — you'd be worthless if you weren't hungry for this.

eager good worthless otherwise listen

Why it matters The Ghost's speech is the engine of the entire play — and it is worth noting everything it does not prove. It accuses Claudius, describes a method, and demands revenge. But the Ghost cannot be called as a witness; the poison leaves no evidence; the only proof is the speech itself, from a source whose theological status is uncertain. This is why Hamlet will later arrange the play-within-a-play: he needs evidence beyond the Ghost's word.

HAMLET ≋ verse [Hamlet suddenly guesses — is it his uncle?]

O my prophetic soul!

Mine uncle!

Oh my prophetic soul — my uncle!

Oh God — my uncle!

uncle claude i knew incestuous

GHOST ≋ verse [the Ghost confirms — Claudius seduced the Queen with witchcraft]

Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,

With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,—

O wicked wit, and gifts, that have the power

So to seduce!—won to his shameful lust

The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen.

O Hamlet, what a falling off was there,

From me, whose love was of that dignity

That it went hand in hand even with the vow

I made to her in marriage; and to decline

Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor

To those of mine. But virtue, as it never will be mov’d,

Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven;

So lust, though to a radiant angel link’d,

Will sate itself in a celestial bed

And prey on garbage.

But soft! methinks I scent the morning air;

Brief let me be. Sleeping within my orchard,

My custom always of the afternoon,

Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole

With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,

And in the porches of my ears did pour

The leperous distilment, whose effect

Holds such an enmity with blood of man

That swift as quicksilver it courses through

The natural gates and alleys of the body;

And with a sudden vigour it doth posset

And curd, like eager droppings into milk,

The thin and wholesome blood. So did it mine;

And a most instant tetter bark’d about,

Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust

All my smooth body.

Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother’s hand,

Of life, of crown, of queen at once dispatch’d:

Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,

Unhous’led, disappointed, unanel’d;

No reckoning made, but sent to my account

With all my imperfections on my head.

O horrible! O horrible! most horrible!

If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not;

Let not the royal bed of Denmark be

A couch for luxury and damned incest.

But howsoever thou pursu’st this act,

Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive

Against thy mother aught; leave her to heaven,

And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,

To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once!

The glow-worm shows the matin to be near,

And ’gins to pale his uneffectual fire.

Adieu, adieu, adieu. Remember me.

Yes — that incestuous beast! He used seduction and cunning to win over your mother, who seemed unable to resist even a virtuous man, but threw off her better judgment and threw herself at his lust. Oh, horrible! More horrible! He came upon me while I slept in my orchard, and poured poison in my ear — yes, poison — which swiftly curdled the blood in my veins. Then, disguised as a friend, he took the crown, the throne, and — most shameful — took my wife to his bed.

Yes — your uncle. He seduced your mother with tricks and lies. She was virtuous, but he overwhelmed her. He murdered me — came to me while I was sleeping and poured poison in my ear. It killed me. And then he took my crown and married my wife.

claudius seduced your mother murdered your father poison in his ear took the crown took the queen

"unhouseled, disappointed, unaneled" These three words are the Ghost's theological claim to special grievance. In Catholic doctrine, dying without last rites left a soul in a state of unpurged sin — Purgatory rather than immediate heaven. But for a Protestant audience, there is no Purgatory, which means either the Ghost is genuinely Catholic in his suffering or he is a demon exploiting Catholic guilt. Shakespeare leaves this permanently open.

"Adieu, adieu, adieu. Remember me." The Ghost's final words. Three goodbyes — each one more final — and then the simplest possible demand: remember me. This is what fathers ask of children; it is also what the play will deny Hamlet the space to do, since 'remembering' will require action that contradicts his own nature.

"taint not thy mind nor let thy soul contrive against thy mother aught" The Ghost's instruction to spare Gertrude is the most psychologically complex part of his speech. It forces Hamlet into a split mission: avenge the murder without touching the murderer's enabler (whether willing or not). It is also, on a cynical reading, a husband's last possessiveness — even dead, he is managing what happens to her.

🎭 Dramatic irony The Ghost says 'taint not thy mind' — but his revelation has already tainted Hamlet's mind irreparably. Every relationship Hamlet has from this point forward will be shaped by the knowledge he cannot share. The instruction to preserve mental purity is given in the same speech that makes it impossible.

[_Exit._]

HAMLET ≋ verse [Hamlet's explosion of reaction — invoking heaven and earth]

O all you host of heaven! O earth! What else?

And shall I couple hell? O, fie! Hold, my heart;

And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,

But bear me stiffly up. Remember thee?

Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat

In this distracted globe. Remember thee?

Yea, from the table of my memory

I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records,

All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past,

That youth and observation copied there;

And thy commandment all alone shall live

Within the book and volume of my brain,

Unmix’d with baser matter. Yes, by heaven!

O most pernicious woman!

O villain, villain, smiling damned villain!

My tables. Meet it is I set it down,

That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain!

At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark.

O all you heavenly powers! O earth! Is there anything else I should know? And shall I damn myself? Oh, what a villain, what a slave Claudius is! What a king was my father!

My God! Heaven and earth! My uncle is a murderer! A seducer! A villain! My father was so much greater!

villain murderer hell dam claudius father was great

"O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain" Hamlet's first response to the Ghost's revelation is not strategy — it is cry. Three times 'villain,' then 'smiling' (the key detail: Claudius functions normally, warmly, charming — his guilt is hidden), then 'damned.' The repetition is the sound of a mind trying to absorb something it can't contain.

"one may smile and smile and be a villain" The insight that will haunt the whole play: surfaces are lies. Claudius smiles at court; performs grief; performs fatherly love for Hamlet — and is a murderer. This is Hamlet's world after the Ghost: a world where the most important truths are invisible and the visible surfaces are performances.

Why it matters Hamlet's explosion after the Ghost leaves lasts about twelve lines before he starts making notes in his tablet. The movement from cosmic cry ('O all you host of heaven!') to practical note-taking ('meet it is I set it down') in under a minute is one of Shakespeare's most precise character observations: Hamlet's mind translates even overwhelming emotional experience into intellectual categories almost instantly.

[_Writing._]

So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word;

It is ‘Adieu, adieu, remember me.’

I have sworn’t.

HORATIO and MARCELLUS.

[_Within._] My lord, my lord.

[_Within._] Lord Hamlet.

[_Within._] Heaven secure him.

HAMLET [Hamlet responds with an oath]

So be it!

So it shall be!

Amen!

amen so be it

[_Within._] Illo, ho, ho, my lord!

HAMLET [Hamlet responds — come like birds to a falconer's call]

Hillo, ho, ho, boy! Come, bird, come.

Hello, hello! Come, like birds come to the call!

Hello! Come here!

hello come like birds

Enter Horatio and Marcellus.

MARCELLUS [Marcellus asks what happened]

How is’t, my noble lord?

How are you, my noble lord?

Are you all right?

are you ok what happened

HORATIO [Horatio also asks for news]

What news, my lord?

What happened?

news tell us

HAMLET [Hamlet is exhilarated — wonderful!]

O, wonderful!

Oh, wonderful!

Amazing!

amazing wonderful i know everything

HORATIO [Horatio urges him to tell them]

Good my lord, tell it.

Tell us, my lord.

Tell us!

tell us please

HAMLET [Hamlet refuses — they can't be trusted with secrets]

No, you’ll reveal it.

No — you'll reveal it.

No — you'll tell someone.

no you'll tell can't trust

HORATIO [Horatio swears he won't]

Not I, my lord, by heaven.

Not I, my lord, I swear by heaven.

I won't, I swear.

i won't swear honor

MARCELLUS [Marcellus also swears]

Nor I, my lord.

Me neither.

me too i won't tell

HAMLET ≋ verse [Hamlet tests them with a riddle about the Ghost's evil]

How say you then, would heart of man once think it?—

But you’ll be secret?

HORATIO and MARCELLUS.

Ay, by heaven, my lord.

There's never a villain in all Denmark except one — and he's an honest man. But that there can be a man in Denmark who is something more than honest? That is what's strange.

There's no evil in Denmark except from one man — who people think is good. But wait — that's the whole problem, isn't it?

villains in denmark one man pretending to be good

HAMLET ≋ verse [Horatio notes there's no need for a Ghost to tell this]

There’s ne’er a villain dwelling in all Denmark

But he’s an arrant knave.

There's no need for a ghost to come from the grave to tell us there's evil in Denmark.

The ghost didn't need to tell us that.

obvious ever one knows evil in denmark

"There's ne'er a villain dwelling in all Denmark but he's an arrant knave" Hamlet has just been told who murdered his father — and he tells his friends 'every villain in Denmark is a scoundrel.' He has retreated immediately into deflection. This is the first evidence of his new strategy: misdirection, nonsense, the performance of confusion as a way of concealing what he knows.

HORATIO ≋ verse [Hamlet agrees — covering for what the Ghost told him]

There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave

To tell us this.

Right, you're right. So, without going further into this, I ask you: you've seen what you've seen. Promise me you'll keep it secret.

Right. Just promise me you won't tell anyone what you saw tonight.

promise secret don't tell

HAMLET ≋ verse [Horatio notes Hamlet is speaking wildly]

Why, right; you are i’ the right;

And so, without more circumstance at all,

I hold it fit that we shake hands and part:

You, as your business and desire shall point you,—

For every man hath business and desire,

Such as it is;—and for my own poor part,

Look you, I’ll go pray.

Your words are wild and confused, my lord.

You're talking strangely.

strange wild confused

HORATIO [Hamlet apologizes — he's been rude]

These are but wild and whirling words, my lord.

I'm sorry those words offended you — truly, deeply sorry.

I'm sorry I was rude.

sorry erratic true hearty

HAMLET ≋ verse [Horatio — no offense taken]

I’m sorry they offend you, heartily;

Yes faith, heartily.

There's no offense, my lord.

It's all right.

no offense it's ok

HORATIO [Hamlet swears on his sword — binding them to secrecy]

There’s no offence, my lord.

But yes, by Saint Patrick, there is offense, Horatio — great offense. What you've seen, you must keep absolute secret. Will you swear?

But there is offense. What you saw tonight must stay secret. Forever. Do you swear?

secret swear from now on

HAMLET ≋ verse [Horatio promises — what will you have us swear?]

Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio,

And much offence too. Touching this vision here,

It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you.

For your desire to know what is between us,

O’ermaster’t as you may. And now, good friends,

As you are friends, scholars, and soldiers,

Give me one poor request.

What shall we swear to, my lord? We will.

We'll swear. What do you want us to swear?

we'll swear what tell us

"it is an honest ghost" Hamlet tells them the Ghost is 'honest' — genuine, not a demon. He has decided to believe it. But he is not sharing the content. The gap between his certainty and their ignorance is the beginning of Hamlet's isolation in the play.

HORATIO [Hamlet instructs them to never speak of the Ghost]

What is’t, my lord? We will.

Never say a word about what you've seen tonight.

Never speak of the ghost.

never speak the ghost forever silent

HAMLET ≋ verse [they agree — we already have]

Never make known what you have seen tonight.

HORATIO and MARCELLUS.

My lord, we will not.

We've already sworn that, my lord.

We already promised.

already sworn

HAMLET [Hamlet insists — swear on his sword]

Nay, but swear’t.

But swear on my sword — really swear.

Swear on my sword.

sword swear binding

HORATIO [Horatio is reluctant — not even for this?]

In faith, my lord, not I.

In truth, my lord, not I.

I don't think so, sir.

no don't want to

MARCELLUS [Marcellus also refuses]

Nor I, my lord, in faith.

Nor I, my lord, in truth.

Me neither.

no me neither

HAMLET [Hamlet insists — on the sword]

Upon my sword.

On my sword you will swear.

sword swear non-negotiable

MARCELLUS [Marcellus — we've already sworn]

We have sworn, my lord, already.

We've already sworn, my lord.

We already did.

already

HAMLET [Hamlet repeats — on my sword]

Indeed, upon my sword, indeed.

Upon my sword — truly.

On my sword, really.

sword truly swear it

[_Cries under the stage._] Swear.

HAMLET ≋ verse [Hamlet jokes about the Ghost — like a digging mole]

Ha, ha boy, sayst thou so? Art thou there, truepenny?

Come on, you hear this fellow in the cellarage.

Consent to swear.

Ha! Did you hear that? Are you there, honest ghost? Come up — we'll shift to a different place.

Did you hear that? The ghost is here! Come on, let's move.

ghost here below swear

HORATIO [Horatio — what oath should we swear?]

Propose the oath, my lord.

What oath should we swear to, my lord?

What exactly are we swearing?

oath what oath

HAMLET ≋ verse [Hamlet — never speak of this]

Never to speak of this that you have seen.

Swear by my sword.

Never to speak of what you have seen tonight. Swear by my sword.

Never speak of the ghost or what you saw. Swear.

never speak silence forever swear

[_Beneath._] Swear.

HAMLET ≋ verse [Hamlet commands the Ghost — here and there?]

_Hic et ubique?_ Then we’ll shift our ground.

Come hither, gentlemen,

And lay your hands again upon my sword.

Never to speak of this that you have heard.

Swear by my sword.

You're everywhere? Then we'll move to another spot. Come, gentlemen, swear.

You're everywhere? Okay, let's move. Swear.

everywhere the ghost follows swear

[_Beneath._] Swear.

HAMLET ≋ verse [Hamlet praises the Ghost — like a mole digging]

Well said, old mole! Canst work i’ th’earth so fast?

A worthy pioner! Once more remove, good friends.

Well done, old mole! You dig fast underground. A worthy pate you have!

Good ghost! You're everywhere, even underground. Swear!

old mole digging everywhere worthy

HORATIO [Horatio's wonder at all this]

O day and night, but this is wondrous strange.

This is wonderful and strange, day and night.

This is very strange.

wonderful strange amazing

HAMLET ≋ verse [Hamlet — welcome it as a stranger would]

And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. But come,

Here, as before, never, so help you mercy,

How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself,—

As I perchance hereafter shall think meet

To put an antic disposition on—

That you, at such times seeing me, never shall,

With arms encumber’d thus, or this head-shake,

Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase,

As ‘Well, we know’, or ‘We could and if we would’,

Or ‘If we list to speak’; or ‘There be and if they might’,

Or such ambiguous giving out, to note

That you know aught of me:—this not to do.

So grace and mercy at your most need help you,

Swear.

And so welcome it as you would welcome a stranger. There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in your philosophy. But come — swear.

Just accept it. There are things in the world we don't understand. Now swear.

more things than philosophy heaven earth mystery swear

[_Beneath._] Swear.

HAMLET ≋ verse [Hamlet to the Ghost — rest now — then to the men]

Rest, rest, perturbed spirit. So, gentlemen,

With all my love I do commend me to you;

And what so poor a man as Hamlet is

May do t’express his love and friending to you,

God willing, shall not lack. Let us go in together,

And still your fingers on your lips, I pray.

The time is out of joint. O cursed spite,

That ever I was born to set it right.

Nay, come, let’s go together.

Rest, ghost — be at peace now. So, gentlemen, I ask this of you: with all my love, with all the friendship I have for you, that you will never, ever speak of what you have seen. I ask this.

Rest now, ghost. Gentlemen, I'm asking you as your friend: never tell anyone what you saw. Promise me.

rest peace friends swear silence forever

Why it matters Hamlet's final lines give us the play's thesis in two sentences. 'The time is out of joint' is not just political: it means the age itself is dislocated, wrong, requiring surgical correction. 'O cursed spite / That ever I was born to set it right' is not self-pity — it is accurate. He was not built to set it right. He is too honest, too philosophical, too aware of consequences to perform the act of violence the time requires. The play is about how the wrong person is given the right mission.

[_Exeunt._]

The Reckoning

The Ghost speaks. He is the spirit of Hamlet's father, sentenced to purge his sins in fires until released, and he forbids Hamlet from knowing the details of his prison lest they destroy him. He reveals the murder: Claudius poured a fast-acting poison (hebenon) into the king's ear while he slept in his orchard, killing him before last rites, sending his soul into eternity unnaturally. He demands Hamlet avenge him — but not to harm Gertrude, leaving her to heaven. He warns that the morning is near and disappears. Hamlet, overwhelmed, swears vengeance with apocalyptic intensity — and then immediately catches himself, already spiraling into his characteristic digression. When Horatio and Marcellus arrive, Hamlet is more controlled: he tells them the Ghost has revealed something but shares nothing of the content. He makes them swear secrecy on his sword. Then, mysteriously, he tells them: if he seems to act mad, don't reveal that they know about the Ghost. He has decided on a strategy: the performance of madness. The scene ends with one of the play's most precise and devastating lines: 'The time is out of joint. O cursèd spite / That ever I was born to set it right!'

If this happened today…

The founder's son meets privately with what might be his father's digital ghost — an AI system trained on all his father's private communications, his voice, his thinking patterns. It tells him: your uncle poisoned the deal that killed your father. Slow-acting, untraceable, done while he was asleep. It wants justice. The son is shaken to his foundations. His first instinct is vows and plans and 'I'll sweep to my revenge.' His second instinct — which arrives almost immediately — is: I need a strategy. He tells his colleagues the ghost appeared and swore them to secrecy. He adds: if I seem to act strangely in the coming weeks, don't say anything. He has decided to play a role. But standing alone at the end of the meeting, he admits to himself: the world is broken and I'm the one who has to fix it. And I don't know if I can.

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