ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Hamlet’s friend came to him telling him that he saw the ghost of his dad. The next night Hamlet was on lookout for the ghost. The ghost told him that Claudius killed him by putting poison in his ear.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Ghost, in the form of the late King Hamlet of Denmark, appears but will not speak. Horatio decides to tell his fellow student, Prince Hamlet, about the Ghost’s appearance. Act 1, scene 2 In an audience chamber in Elsinore, Claudius, the new king of Denmark, holds court.

Detailed explanation-3: -Hamlet sees the ghost of his father. The ghost tells him that it was his brother Claudius, the new king, who killed him and commands Hamlet to get revenge. Hamlet has been behaving strangely and Claudius asks Hamlet’s childhood friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to find out why.

Detailed explanation-4: -Act 1 scene 5 The ghost tells Hamlet how he was murdered by his brother, Claudius. He reveals that Claudius poured poison in his ear while he was asleep and managed to seduce Gertrude. He instructs Hamlet to ‘Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder’.

Detailed explanation-5: -Remember that Claudius killed King Hamlet by pouring poison into his ear. Shakespeare continually illustrates that words can function as poison in the ear as well. As the ghost says in Act I, scene v, Claudius has poisoned “the whole ear of Denmark” with his words (I.v.36).