Critical approaches to Hamlet amuse their rulers with their inventive language. Osric and Polonius seem to especially respect this suggestion. Claudius' speech is full of rhetorical figures, as is Hamlet's and, at times, Ophelia's, while Horatio, the guards, and the gravediggers use simpler methods of speech. Claudius demonstrates an authoritative control over the language of a King, referring to himself in the first person plural, and using anaphora mixed with metaphor that hearkens back to Greek political speeches. Hamlet seems the most educated in rhetoric of all the characters, using anaphora, as the king does, but also asyndeton and highly developed metaphors, while at
Ghost (Hamlet) years after Shakespeare died, the poet Nicholas Rowe reported that he had heard an anecdote that Shakespeare himself had played the Ghost, starting a story that is still given credence. Modern actors portraying the Ghost include Laurence Olivier, Paul Scofield, Patrick Stewart, and Brian Blessed. Ghost (Hamlet) The ghost of Hamlet's father is a character from William Shakespeare's play "Hamlet". In the stage directions he is referred to as "Ghost". His name is also Hamlet, and he is referred to as "King" Hamlet to distinguish him from the Prince. He is loosely based on a legendary Jutish chieftain, named Horwendill,