Question: Does Hamlet fabricate the conversation with the ghost?
             In Shakespeare's Hamlet, madness, along with revenge, is a central theme. Hamlet is driven to destroy his uncle in order to exact vengeance for the murder of his father. However, there is ample evidence that the murder may have never happened, and Hamlet's sole evidence, the conversation with the ghost, may have been created from one of two sources. Either Hamlet was truly mad, even at the onset of the play, and used his own subconscious as a guide to create a dialogue with the ghost, or the ghost was in fact a demon who used Hamlet's subconscious buttons to force him to destroy the kingdom. There is ample textual evidence to suggest that Hamlet never spoke to the ghost of his father but instead some type of manifestation from his subconscious.
             The first evidence pointing toward Hamlet creating the words of the ghost comes during their first meeting. The behavior exhibited by the ghost is odd. Normally three people are needed to confirm the truth in Elizabethan England, yet the ghost leads Hamlet away from his two friends. That action leaves only Hamlet to hear what the ghost says. When considered with the fact that the ghost is not happy, as familiar spirits are supposed to be, an argument can be made early for demonic work. Possibly, a demon interested in destroying the kingdom manipulates Hamlet by impersonating his father and convincing him to kill his uncle. If it were a demon then there is strong evidence that the demon uses Hamlet's own thoughts and subconscious to fabricate the ghost's dialogue. It can be argued that this was done to drive Hamlet to madness as Horatio warned might happen when he said, "what if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord/ ...And there assume some other horrible form/ Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason, and draw you into madness?" (1.3.69-74). In this speech Horatio gives Hamlet the cla...