Act 1, Scene 1

Q: Key Events in Act 1, Scene 1

A tense and unsettling atmosphere fills the opening of *Hamlet*. This kind of atmosphere is typical of many crime texts.

Test yourself on Act 1, Scene 1

Test your knowledge with free interactive questions on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.

Key Events in Act 1, Scene 1

A tense and unsettling atmosphere fills the opening of Hamlet. This kind of atmosphere is typical of many crime texts.

The watchmen are introduced

Two sentinels (watchmen), Barnardo and Francisco, keep watch atop Elsinore’s battlements in the middle of the night.
- The setting of the opening scene immediately creates a tense and uneasy atmosphere.
- The two watchmen are clearly on edge. The opening line (“Who’s there?”) immediately suggests mistrust and disquiet. Francisco is unable to make Barnardo out in the darkness.

Francisco introduces disease motif

Francisco: “’Tis bitter cold / And I am sick at heart.”
- Francisco’s complaint introduces a motif of illness and disease. This motif will recur throughout the play.
- Shakespeare begins to create the sense of a sickness filling all of Denmark, although the cause of this is not yet known.

More Key Events in Act 1, Scene 1

The two sentinels are relieved by Horatio and Marcellus. Together, they discuss “this thing” which has disturbed their watch on two previous nights. Just as Barnardo begins to recount the previous night’s events, the Ghost appears.

The Ghost first appears

The Ghost appears in the form of the dead King (old Hamlet), dressed in “the very armour” he wore when he vanquished the Norwegian and Polish armies.
Horatio links this to the rumours of a Norwegian army led by the “hot” (hot-headed) young Fortinbras threatening Danish territory.

Horatio's description of the Ghost

Horatio: “This bodes some strange eruption to our state.”
- Horatio sees the Ghost’s visitation as a premonition of chaos and disorder within Denmark.
- The image of an “eruption” suggests possible violence and destruction. This term may also refer to boils or blisters breaking out on a person’s skin, continuing the motif of disease/sickness established earlier in the scene.

The Ghost vanishes

The Ghost is about to speak. But, when the cock begins to crow, signalling the dawn of a new day, it vanishes. Horatio decides that they must inform young Hamlet of the Ghost’s visitation, believing that the “spirit… will speak to him.”
- Shakespeare builds suspense. The audience hopes for a future meeting with the Ghost, in which the reasons for its visitation will be revealed.

Horatio's description of the Ghost

Horatio on the Ghost's behaviour after the cock has crowed: “It started like a guilty thing / Upon a fearful summons.”
- Horatio’s description of the Ghost’s behaviour introduces the themes of guilt and punishment. These are common to most crime texts.

Introducing eternal punishment

Although the reasons for the Ghost’s possible guilt and punishment are not yet clear, Horatio and Marcellus speculate on the old belief that, as soon as a new day begins to break, the “erring spirit” must return to its “confine” (a place of confinement, such as a prison).
This idea of eternal punishment in the afterlife will be developed by Hamlet later in the play. It is a crucial factor in delaying his revenge.

Key Ideas in Act 1, Scene 1 - The Supernatural

The supernatural is a key theme in Act 1, Scene 1.

Significance of the Ghost's entrance

The Ghost's entrance is thought to be a premonition (or portent) of future disorder: Barnardo refers to the spirit as “portentous” while Horatio thinks that it might be an “omen”.
The supernatural is therefore used to foreshadow potential chaos or turmoil where the natural world is turned upside down.

Reference to Caesar's death

Horatio links the Ghost’s visitation to the strange events that were said to occur in Rome before the assassination of Julius Caesar: “The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted dead / Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets”.
This reference to one of the most infamous crimes of the classical world - Caesar’s assassination - foreshadows old Hamlet’s murder.