ude the error of her ways in an almost Christ-like sence. He is overcome with the belief that everything he is doing is correct and good. I get the image of him trying to act like Jesus, a pure man in a group of sinners. Another issue in Hamlet that has been argued about comes during that same bedroom scene.Why can Hamlet see the Ghost and not his mother? At first, my answer is that since Hamlet isfree of guilt towards his father's death, he can see him. I had the impression that Shakespearemade the ghost only visible to him because Gertrude had sinned against him. I don't think thisway anymore. If I base the fact that Hamlet sees the ghost because he is without sin, that argument can be taken away because Hamlet has just murdered Polonius. Polonius is an innocent man. Surely, this is a great sin in the mind of the ghost as well as in the mind of Hamlet. Polonius had done nothing to bring about the death of King Hamlet. This is where Hamlet beginshis own downward spiral of sin. If he is after Claudius for comitting a sin, he is guilty of twomurders to innocent people by the end of the play. Shakespeare's Christian imagery in this play seems to be stronger than in any of the other plays we have covered so far. However, he does tend to slip in, either intentionally or not, a reference to God, Jesus or a Biblical passage in almost all of his plays. Is this his personal touch to his writings or was this a common theme for writersof this time period? Two images? Or two types of images? As far as types of images, you can't go wrong discussing images of decay/disease and images of warfare/violence. Images of decay include: "Tis bitter cold/And I am sick at heart" (I.i.8-9). "the moist star/Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands/ was sick almost to doomsday with eclips" (I.i.118-20). the world as an overgrown garden--"things rank and gross in nature possess it merely" (I.i...
