# Scene V explained — Hamlet

> Chapter companion for Hamlet by William Shakespeare.

## What happens

The Ghost reveals to Hamlet that he is the spirit of his father, murdered by Claudius, and commands Hamlet to seek revenge. Hamlet swears to remember and avenge the murder, and makes Horatio and Marcellus swear secrecy about the ghost, warning them he may feign madness.

## Themes in this chapter

### Revenge and Morality

The Ghost commands Hamlet to avenge his murder, setting the central revenge plot in motion.

### Mortality and the Afterlife

The Ghost describes his time in purgatorial fires and the horrors of death without absolution.

## Character check-ins

### Hamlet

Confronts the Ghost, learns of his father's murder, and swears revenge.

### Ghost

Reveals himself as Hamlet's father, describes his murder by Claudius, and commands revenge.

### Horatio

Arrives with Marcellus, is sworn to secrecy by Hamlet.

### Marcellus

Accompanies Horatio, swears not to reveal what he has seen.

## Key lines

> I am thy father’s spirit, Doom’d for a certain term to walk the night, 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 am the spirit of your father, condemned to wander at night and suffer in flames during the day until my sins are cleansed.

_The Ghost reveals his identity and his purgatorial state._

> Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.

Avenge his terrible and unnatural killing.

_The Ghost commands Hamlet to take revenge for his murder._

> The serpent that did sting thy father’s life Now wears his crown.

The snake that killed your father now wears his crown.

_The Ghost reveals that Claudius is the murderer._

> The time is out of joint: O cursed spite, That ever I was born to set it right!

The world is disordered; what a curse that I was born to fix it.

_Hamlet laments his fate as the one who must restore order._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/hamlet_se/chapters/act-i-scene-v
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- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/hamlet_se/chapters