2. Theatrically, why might Shakespeare have opened Hamlet with an apparition in the dead of the night? Shakespeare captures the audiences attention in the opening scene with the eerie atmosphere of ?bitter cold? and a sudden appearance of a ghost. While ?not a mouse [was] stirring?, Marcellus, Horatio, and Barnado deciding whether the ?dreaded sight? is or is not a figment of their imagination raises questions of the ghost?s significance and purpose in the play, whilst simultaneously possibly representing an omen or foreshadow of dark events to come. 4. Discuss Renaissance superstition as it is evidenced by Horatio and the guards.
Hamlet Act 1 Questions
2. Theatrically, why might Shakespeare have opened Hamlet with an apparition in the dead of the night? Shakespeare captures the audiences attention in the opening scene with the eerie atmosphere of ?bitter cold? and a sudden appearance of a ghost. While ?not a mouse [was] stirring?, Marcellus, Horatio, and Barnado deciding whether the ?dreaded sight? is or is not a figment of their imagination raises questions of the ghost?s significance and purpose in the play, whilst simultaneously possibly representing an omen or foreshadow of dark events to come. 4. Discuss Renaissance superstition as it is evidenced by Horatio and the guards.
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