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Plays › The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark › The Ghost

The Ghost

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark · 14 speeches across 2 scenes

The spirit of Hamlet's murdered father, King Hamlet. He appears to demand revenge for his death, setting the entire tragic plot in motion.

Who they are

The Ghost's revelation that he was murdered by his brother Claudius is the inciting incident of the play. He appears to Hamlet to demand vengeance, but his command creates Hamlet's paralyzing moral dilemma. His relationship with Hamlet is one of paternal authority and a shared secret, while his relationship with Gertrude is one of betrayed love and lingering concern, as shown when he intervenes to protect her.

Playing them

A commanding, otherworldly presence. The voice should be resonant and grave, with a tone of immense suffering and urgency. Physicality is often still and imposing, but can shift to agitation when recounting the murder. Traditional stagings vary from a majestic armored king to a tormented, barely visible specter.

Appearance

Typically appears in full armor, as he describes being dressed for battle when killed. His presence is often accompanied by cold, eerie lighting or mist. He is described as having a 'countenance more in sorrow than in anger.'

Where they appear

Play The Ghost

Take the part and Yorick reads every other role aloud, following you line by line as you speak.

Rehearse Hamlet on your phone: App Store · Google Play

Shakespeare the way it was meant to be had — out loud

These plays were written to be performed, not silently read. Yorick is a rehearsal app that lets you perform them: you take a part in any of Shakespeare’s 38 plays, and Yorick reads every other role aloud, listens while you speak your lines, keeps your place, and prompts you the moment you dry.

It is built for the person who has to be off book by tech week — school and college productions, community theatre, festivals, drama students and classical auditions — and for anyone who wants to hear a scene rather than skim it. Alongside the performance you get a plain-English translation of every speech, scene context, performance notes, and the ability to ask about any line and get an answer that already knows the play, the scene and who is speaking.

The text is the public-domain Cambridge/Globe edition. Translations and notes are AI-generated rehearsal aids for actors and students, not a scholarly apparatus. Yorick runs in a browser with nothing to install, and on iPhone and Android.