Help answer some questions?

[Hecate77]

I'm currently reading Hamlet. Can someone help clarify a few answers for me? All help would be greatly appreciated.

Concerning Act I, Scene V:

1. State the substance of the ghost's revelation to Hamlet.
2. How does Shakespeare emphasize the heinous aspects of the crime?
3. What two specific demands does the ghost make of Hamlet?
4. What evidence is there of Hamlet's highly emotional reactions to the ghost's message?
5. Account for Hamlet's plan to acquire an antic disposition.
6. Account for the apparent contradiction in the following statements:
" Haste me to know that Iw ith wings so swift- As meditation on the thots of lov, May sweep to my revenge."
AND
" The time is out of joint, O cursed spite, That ever I was born to set it right."

Thank you once again for those who help me. :p :)

[Jim58]

Here's suggestions to the first 3.

1. The Ghost reveals to Hamlet that in life he was King Hamlet, Hamlet's father, that he had been killed by having poison poured in his ear by his brother the new king of Denmark. The king's death was reported as a snake bite. We are also told that Claudius seduced and won to his shameful lust the will of the seeming-virtuous queen, Hamlet's mother.

2. Aside from the rich descriptive language, Shakespeare shows that mere death was just the start. King Hamlet was killed in the blossoms of his sin, with all his imperfections on his head which then doomed him to be confined to fast in fires until his crimes are burnt and purged away. His "prison-house" is so horrible that just the telling of it in the lightest terms would have a terrible effect on the hearer.

3. The Ghost actually makes three demands of Hamlet:

If thou didst ever thy dear father love-
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.

Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
Against thy mother aught. Leave her to heaven

Adieu, adieu! Hamlet, remember me.