Act 1 Scene 1

The beginning of the play starts begins as Bernardo takes over the shift of a fellow guard at midnight. The two greet each other tersely, and it is obvious that they are both anxious and jumpy for one reason or another. Bernardo is joined by a fellow guard, Marcellus, and their scholarly companion Horatio. We find out that Bernardo and Marcellus are jumpy die to the fact that they've seen a ghost twice over the past two nights, and he bears a striking resemblance to the recently dead King Hamlet of Denmark. Horatio has not believed their claims, and the two guards are intent on proving him wrong. The ghost inevitably appears, and all three of the men are taken aback, and Horatio claims that he is filled with "fear and wonder." Horatio, being the more scholarly of the three, tries to make sense of the ghost's presence, but all he can conclude is that it is a bad omen for event to come. As Horatio talks, we learn that there is the threat of foreign attack on Denmark, again explaining the tense atmosphere at the beginning of the scene.

This scene is crucial because it sets up central themes of tension and suspicion, and the ghost lets the audience/reader know that something is horribly wring within the castle. 

As an actor, I would love the chance to portray Horatio in this scene, because I feel that his demeanor and discovery of the ghost could lend some humor to an otherwise foreboding scene. Horatio, being a scholar who may think a little highly of himself, enters as through he would rather be in his warm bed than on a guard's patrol on a chilly night. He doesn't believe in ghosts, and he just wants Bernardo and Marcellus to shut up about the one that they think they saw. He's bored, annoyed, and a bit cocky until the ghost shows up, and his pride is hurt when the ghost refuses to talk to him. He can't help but wonder what the ghost's presence signifies, however, and he manages to connect the current upheaval in the castle and country to the ghost's appearance. Now he's intrigued, and he believes that his friend Hamlet may have an idea as to why the ghost of his dead father is lurking around the castle at night...