Hamlet #3

In this section of Hamlet, Hamlet has an encounter with the ghost who represents his dead father. The ghost shares with Hamlet the cause to his death, which leaves Hamlet with a thirst for revenge on his uncle, and the new king. The ghost tells Hamlet that he is trapped in the fires of purgatory until he has paid time for all of his past sins: "And for the day confined to fast in fires,/ Till the foul crimes done in my days/ of nature/ Are burnt and purged away" (I.iv.16-18). Purgatory is a place where souls are punished for their sins before entering heaven. The ghost tells Hamlet that the king was killed before he could repent for his sins, which is why he is in purgatory: "Unhouseled, disappointed, unaneled./ No reckoning made, but sent to my account/ With all my imperfections on my head" (I.iv.84-86). This idea of freeing sins is similar to the final act in Shakespeare's play Othello. Before Othello killed Desdemona, he told her to pray to free herself of all her sins from the past. Unfortunately, the king was not given such an opportunity to do so.