Ghost....In A Literal Sense

How ghost have helped shape classic literature

By: Sam Little

Throughout the advancement of the written word, themes and ideas have become stories and novels. Book upon book collected as a testament to the author and a gift to the reader. As a high school student many years ago, lol, I began to correlate my love of reading with my passion for paranormal research.

I started to notice paranormal themes in some of the reading assignments I was given. Ghost seemed to be haunting the pages of some of histories greatest literal works. I was thrilled at this observation.

In this article I will try to explain why ghosts are such a big part of these works as well as give you a list of some of the classic literature that is home to a ghost of sorts.

Why???? Why would an author such as Shakespeare or Dickens feel the need to rely on the fabled ghost to spice up their works? Why not? The ghost in a sense is so much more then the disembodied spirit, it is an emotion that we can use in many ways. While we can not answer this question fully as the two men have had their own life fires extinguished some time back we can try to give a few ideas.

Ghost capture one's attention in such a way that the focus stays put. Ghost have the power to frighten us, humor us, and even bring us to tears. They can act as messengers of goodwill, bringers of bad news and warning signs of things to come. It is these traits that I am sure the great writers of years past took notice of and decided that their stories could benefit from a ghost or two.

Let's begin with a work that goes against the conventional season of the ghost per say. Ghost are often thought to revel in the Halloween season but our first tale is actually a Christmas story, in fact it is "A Christmas Carol" by the late great Charles Dickens. The story is that of Ebenezer Scrooge, a greedy old man who has a heart the size of a pea and a stern hatred of the holy days. His cruelty is unmatched. It is Christmas season and he is visited by the ghost of his old friend Marley. The ghost appears rattling chains and moaning which at the time this work was written was a common description of a ghostly appearance.

Marley tells Scrooge that he will be visited by three ghost on that night, each will make him see the errors of his ways. This would make Marley to an extent a harbinger, or messenger of bad news. While traditional in aspect of ghost Marley is the only ghost in the play that follows that path. The other ghosts are much more than that. They are not ghost of humans, but of the essence of Christmas. Dickens uses them to reflect human emotion and fear.

The first ghost is that of Christmas past, there to show Scrooge the past and his deeds that are causing his pain now. The second is that of Christmas present and is there to show the error of the now. The third ghost is the most memorable as he is there to show Scrooge the end and the death he will suffer. This ghost in a sense is the Grim Reaper, or death himself.

While this story is fueled by ghost it is not the only story of it's nature. Another man relied rather heavily on the ghost in his works. He as opposed to Dickens did not use them metaphorically but used them as they were intended, the ghost of the recently deceased. William Shakespeare was most noted for Romeo and Juliet, used the image of the ghost in several of his works. Some of his most discussed works were riddled with ghosts. Hamlet, MacBeth and King Henry iv Part 2, each contained their own ghost. His ghost reflected the living, either by helping or hurting them and in some ways representing their guilt.

This is just brushing the top of this article as I will be going further into this topic at a later time. I just wanted to start your mind working and looking for a connection between paranormal and classical literary works. Happy hunting.