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) 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, who appears in "Chronicon Lethrense" and in Saxo Grammaticus' "Gesta Danorum". According to oral tradition, the Ghost was originally played by Shakespeare himself. The Ghost appears three times in the play: in Act I, Scene i; in the continuum of Act I, Scenes iv and