The presence of the ghost in Shakespeare's Hamlet serves as a manifestation of ingrained custom in Denmark. As such, the Ghost, Hamlet's father, is a contrast to Hamlet the son, the man of reason, who is the essence of modernity. The Ghost endeavors to reconnect Hamlet to the social codes of conduct that Hamlet has disregarded in the name of reason. The primary code of conduct that has been neglected is revenge for the Ghost's murder, which it is Hamlet's expected duty to undertake. The conflict between the custom of revenge and the reason of the modern world manifests itself in how Hamlet alternates between sanity (reason) and madness (adherence to custom).

The manner of how the Ghost appears in the living world is very significant. The first three sightings occur on the platform of the castle, where the sentinels keep watch. The Ghost wears "the very armour he had on/When he th' ambitious Norway combated" (Ham. 1.1.63-64). This emphasizes the perception of the Ghost King as a warrior; above all else, a man of action, of tradition.

Hamlet is the opposite of his father; he is a product of modern thought, a scholar recently returned from Wittenberg. By his own acknowledgment, Hamlet is not a warrior, a man of action. When speaking of his uncle, Hamlet says he is "no more like my father/Than I to Hercules" (Ham. 1.2.152-153).

The purpose of the Ghost's visitation to Hamlet is to call him to action, to avenge his father's "foul and most unnatural murder" (Ham. 1.5.25). That Hamlet is well aware of his duty in this custom is signified by his reply:

Haste me to know't, that I with wings as swift As meditation or the thoughts of love May sweep to my revenge (Ham. 1.5.29-31).

If Hamlet represents modernity and the Ghost represents tradition, then it is also true that modernity represents reason and tradition, madness. This is the concern that Horatio utters when Hamlet wants to follow the Ghost away. He warns Hamlet that the Ghost might "deprive your sovereignty of reason/And draw you into madness" (Ham.1.5.73-74). Thus, does Horatio link the Ghost, which represents custom, with madness.

That Hamlet also likens madness to the adherence of custom can be discerned from his putting on of an "antic disposition" (Ham.1.5.180), i.e. separating himself from his usual state of reason. In Shakespeare's version, Hamlet's feigned madness has a different purpose than the earlier version of Hamlet. In the earlier play, Hamlet feigns madness to disarm suspicion; in Shakespeare's play, the "effect of the madness is not to lull but to arouse the king's suspicion" (Eliot 44). Why does Hamlet's madness cause this suspicion? Obviously, Claudius was not afraid of what Hamlet might do when he appeared rational and reasonable. The conclusion is that Claudius becomes afraid when Hamlet is irrational because Hamlet is leaving his reason behind and becoming more like a man of custom. And as a man of custom, Hamlet would be duty-bound to avenge the murder of his father.

Throughout the play, there are many instances where Hamlet switches back and forth from being a man of reason and a man of custom. When the Ghost admonishes Hamlet to "remember" him, Hamlet replies:

Ay, thou poor ghost, whiles 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! (Ham. 1.5.96-104)

Although Hamlet swears to the Ghost not to think of anything else except his "commandment", this is impossible for Hamlet to do. Hamlet realizes that "enterprises of great pitch and moment" become "sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought" (Ham.3.1.85-86). His reason keeps intruding upon his will to carry out the revenge.

Hamlet's delay in carrying out the Ghost's commandment leads him to ponder whether he is without honor, a "rogue and peasant slave" in not conforming to the conduct of what is expected of a noble gentleman. Then Hamlet rationalizes his delay in action by questioning the Ghost's veracity; he says the spirit he has seen could have been a devil and that the devil "hath power" to "assume a pleasing shape" (Ham.2.2.595-596). Therefore, Hamlet logically decides to obtain proof of his uncle's guilt in the murder with the staging of the play before he acts to carry out the revenge.

Bibliography

Eliot, T.S. "Hamlet's Problems." Hamlet. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1990. 43-46.

Girard, Ren. "Hamlet's Dull Revenge." Hamlet. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1990. 166-185.

Shakespeare, William. "Hamlet". The Arden Shakespeare. Ed. Harold Jenkins. London: Thomson Learning, 2000. 165-419.