he must plunge deep into the bodily passion that he so despises, and perhaps become a bloody villain himself. The spirit was able to convince him to perform his private revenge, however, was unable to accomplish the action because Hamlet thought about the state of the Ghost. The fourth way to determine whether the spirit is evil is good spirits profess humility; evil spirits will threaten and use vile language. The Ghost spoke to Hamlet by using vile language about Claudius. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,With witch craft of his (wit) with traitorous giftsO wicked wit and gifts, that have the power So to seduce! won to his shameful lust . . . 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. (I,v, 49-52,87-90) If the spirit were good, he would have not talked about Claudius this way. The way the spirit spoke seems like he was forcing Hamlet to avenge him because he belittled Hamlet and described that he should be the next one in the throne. A good spirit will not force anyone to act against his will. Clearly, the spirit was using words of encouragement to carry out his evil deed. The Ghost fills the linguistic fabric of his play with images of broken bodies, much as the fat knight generates images of sensory gratification and discomfort. The spirit brings gruesome images in the play, and a good spirit will bring beautiful images. Lavater said, Evil spirits will often speak the truth. The spirit did speak the truth to Hamlet. Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole, with juice of cursed hebona in a vial, and in the porches of my ears did pour. The truth harmed him and caused him many dangers. If the spirit is good, then the Ghost should not cause harm. The truth is evil and this means that the Ghost is evil. The Ghost in Hamlet is evil because it falls into the category that Lavater outlined. The churchs description al...
