Act 1, Scene 4

I enjoyed when Hamlet said;

"The king doth wake tonight and takes his rouse,
Keeps wassail, and the swagg'ring upspring reels;
And as he drains his drafts of Rhenish down,
Rhe kettledrum and trumpet thus bray out
The truimph of his pledge."

I thought it was funny when the king had trumpets play and cannons fire after he drained his cup ( sounds a bit Canadian, eh?) It's interesting how Hamlet, (the younger generation,) is appalled by the reckless, ya-hoo behaviour of the King (the older generation.) It's the opposite of modern times, I guess.


Basically, in this scene Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus come out to the "ghost spot" to see if the ghost will come out again (which it does.) The ghost tries to lure Hamlet away from the others (which it successfully does,) ending the scene with Hamlet chasing after it into the forest.

If I was in Hamlets position, I probably would go after the ghost as well. From his first soliloquy we gather that he idolizes his father, (reference to calling him a "Hyperion.") After the kings dies and Hamlet's mother re-marries his uncle, he feels quite alone. When you think about it, if you had a loved one who died, and you had a chance to talk to them, would you pass it up? He feels no need to hold back, as shown when he said " how unprofitable seem all the uses of this world," he really has nothing left worth holding on to.