In How to Be the Heroine of Your Own Story we discuss ‘Stasis characters’; these are characters who are endemic to the hero’s Stasis state and who exert pressure (whether well-meaning or not) to keep them there.

The ghost in Hamlet is an archetypal character of this kind. Here are some of the persuasive (or manipulative) techniques it employs, and which you can use to model your own Stasis characters:

ATTENTION
“Mark me.”

The ghost begins by getting Hamlet’s attention. Of course, it’s already shown itself to the guards, and to Hamlet’s friends, Horatio and Marcellus, frightening them with its ominous and unnatural appearance, and baffling them with its silence.

Not all Stasis characters need be quite so theatrical in forcing attentiveness, but if you want to make matters difficult for your character, the Stasis character should demand their full focus, and perhaps that of other witnesses to the occasion, who can hold the hero accountable.

“If we were not perfectly convinced that Hamlet’s Father died before the play began, there would be nothing more remarkable in his taking a stroll at night, in an easterly wind, upon his own ramparts, than there would be in any other middle-aged gentleman rashly turning out after dark in a breezy spot—say Saint Paul’s Churchyard for instance—literally to astonish his son’s weak mind.” – A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens

SUFFERING
“My hour is almost come
When I to sulf’rous and tormenting flames
Must render up myself.”

While Hamlet isn’t himself the cause of the ghost’s purgatorial sufferings, it’s understood that he has the power to end them by taking vengeance on his father’s murderer.

Stasis characters are fond of making their sufferings known, and either placing the blame for causing them, or the means of alleviating them in the hands of others. Shifting responsibility away from oneself is the surest indicator of a Stasis character, and the true source of their suffering.

INDEBTEDNESS
“No reck’ning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head.”

Purgatory is also closely linked to the themes of monetary transaction in the play, since the onus was on the living to pay for prayers to shorten their dead relatives’ suffering.

Stasis characters aren’t above instilling a sense of indebtedness in the main character, and making them feel guilty for not repaying them for past favours or present (written or unwritten) contracts. Nor are heroes always backward in a desire to pay respects to a progenitor, or try to allay their grief by making offerings to the dead.

☞ To better understand the context of the play, I recommend reading Hamlet in Purgatory by Stephen Greenblatt.

LOVE
“If thou didst ever thy dear father love—”

The love card is the most insidious trick up a Stasis character’s sleeve. Nor can they really be blamed for partaking in the common belief that love entails the promise of certain behaviours towards the loved one.

The ghost very clearly invokes Hamlet’s filial love for his own ends, but no mention is made of the former King’s love or consideration for his son, or what the consequences of vengeance will mean for him.

On the other hand, the tender exemption he shows Hamlet’s mother, as well as Hamlet’s exaggerated descriptions of the virtues of his father paint the ghost in a sympathetic light, making it more difficult to ignore or dismiss.

Usually, Stasis characters won’t demand murder as a proof of love, but they may ask for other favours or tokens that threaten one or the other’s well-being. Furthermore, and most difficult of all, they may be characters deeply beloved of the hero.

ECHOING
“O Hamlet, what a falling off was there!
From me, whose love was of that dignity
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
I made to her in marriage, and to decline
Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor
To those of mine.”

By echoing Hamlet’s earlier thoughts (in I.2) on the behaviour of the (new) King and Queen, the ghost makes itself appear trustworthy and as if it’s in harmony with Hamlet’s ideas.

Stasis characters may range themselves alongside you in an argument; they may even have your best interests at heart… but the danger is that the thinking that accords with Stasis characters also supports and strengthens the Stasis state.

OATHS
“Swear.”

The ghost insists that Hamlet and his friends bind themselves with oaths, and the “word” becomes a leitmotif in the play that cycles through all variations of meaning and phrasing.

Oaths, promises, and contracts can all be ways for the Stasis character to keep others by their side. But, of course, one’s word means nothing unless it’s recorded and remembered.

“Does the emphasis in the spectral command fall on “remember” or on “me”? Hamlet’s response to the “poor ghost” teases out both terms, with his first repetition emphasizing the memory that holds a seat in his brain and the second insisting that all the contents of that memory, save one, will be wiped away.” – Hamlet in Purgatory, Stephen Greenblatt

REMEBRANCE
“Remember me.”

The ghost’s injunction to “remember” seems to have a particularly galvanising effect on Hamlet, perhaps because — as we know — he’s so far from forgetting about his father, or perhaps because forgetfulness is often made out to be the worst sign of disinterest and disregard towards a loved one.

Stasis characters from beyond the veil may convey a more poignant need to be remembered because they cannot be physically present to influence the main character.

WATCHFULNESS
“This visitation
Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.”

The effect of the ghost’s visitation may have worn off were it not for its reappearance, berating Hamlet for his “almost blunted purpose”. There’s a sense that the ghost, though invisible, has been observing Hamlet. Jacques Derrida calls this the Visor Effect: “we do not see who looks at us”.

Stasis characters can exercise sway over the main character through repeat visitations, through unseen surveillance, or simply by being present in the hero’s thoughts.

“Why does it whisper to us to follow a ghost? Where? Whither? What does it mean to follow a ghost? And what if this came down to being followed by it, always, persecuted perhaps by the very chase we are leading?” – Spectres of Marx, Jacques Derrida

HASTE
“But soft, methinks I scent the morning air.
Brief let me be.”

The ghost is urgent in its demand because it will vanish at daybreak.

The lack of time or resources can be another way for Stasis characters to exert pressure on the hero. A ticking clock or an ultimatum can be useful for making a character believe that their options are limited and that their decisions are final and binding.

However, for the hero who sees beyond the illusion of lack and limitation, the world overflows with riches, and they become aware that sacrificing the Stasis character need not mean losing them for good.

No doubt there are parents who would die to gain this sort of control over their child, and indeed, sometimes Stasis characters can constitute the final, most binding tie that prevents the character from realising their own Power.

Such strong resistance — whether in the form of external authority, or internal suffering caused by guilt — can trap the hero in the Underworld and forever bar their return to the Resolution world, as it does in all tragedies.

However dear and well-meaning these Stasis characters may be, if you want to make the journey back to the light, then it’s best to lay them to rest.

Further Resources

1. Pick up your handout in the Coterie library.
2. John Gielgud’s radio performance of Hamlet from 1948.
3. How to Be the Heroine of Your Own Story – my character development course.
4. Hamlet in Purgatory by Stephen Greenblatt
5. Spectres of Marx by Jacques Derrida