Revenge In Hamlet

The question of how far the Ghost persuades Hamelt into action hinges almost entirely on whether the audience agree that revenge is indeed the primary function of the play. Although this seems to be the case, an argument can also be made that it is Hamlet’s journey to taking action that is the important part of the story, not the simple action of taking revenge. It also depends on whether the audience sees a desire in Hamlet to seek revenge even before the Ghost shares the story of his murder; and to this end whether the Ghost is simply a manifestation of Hamlet’s subconscious, persuading him to take an action he has already decided on.
The persuasion of Hamlet begins almost immediately after the Ghost stops to talk to him. He claims that he must soon return to ‘sulphurous and tormenting flames’ which references Purgatory, a reference which is later confirmed as truth by the Ghost stating that he is prevented from moving on until ‘the foul crimes done in my days of nature/Are burnt and purged away’ which is the definition of Purgatory. This would evoke a certain amount of sympathy both in Hamlet and in the Elizabethan audience, to whom the idea of purgatory would have seemed a fate almost more terrible than Hell. Evoking sympathy is an important part in manipulation and the Ghost covers in within his first few
As Hamlet is an educated person, it’s likely that he would have a keen sense of justice and therefore would likely be riled by this fact in addition to the plain fact of murder, even if not to the same degree. It would also be seen as an atrocity as the Ghost was King and regicide is both a great crime and a great sin in a society that believed firmly in the Divine Right of Kings and the direct ordination of rulers by