The main theme of act I, scene 1 foreshadows the rest of the play: the message is that, starting with the storm, the normal order of life is about to be upset. This comes across most clearly in the words of the Boatswain, who ignores the commands of Antonio and others of higher rank, stating:

Act 1 establishes these plot points: The new king, Hamlet’s uncle, murdered Hamlet’s father. His father’s ghost appears to him to describe the murder and charge Hamlet with seeking revenge. Hamlet’s mother committed adultery with Claudius before her husband’s death and married Claudius with “unseemly” haste.

In the opening, Act 1 and Scene 1 of ‘Hamlet’, the playwright, William Shakespeare, uses several dramatical devices to influence the crowd’s moods, behaviour and attitude towards the play; this is known as psychological audience manipulation.

Scene 1 or Act 1 is therefore mainly important because it introduces the ghost and establishes that it is not only a real ghost but the ghost of Hamlet’s father. The ghost’s revelations will affect everything that happens throughout the rest of the play.

In this essay we will be discussing two of these themes that we found intriguing, the two themes are Death, and Revenge. (2.2.487-488) In Act 2 Hamlet asks for a speech, and the First Player delivers a description of the killing of old, white haired King Priam.

The Uncertainty of Life

Significance of the soliloquies by Hamlet in the play “Hamlet”. Answer: Soliloquy is a dramatic technique of speaking alone on the stage. It is a dramatic convention of exposing to the audience – the intentions, thoughts and feelings of a character who speaks to himself while no one remains on the stage.