Hamlet. Act 1, Scene 1.

1. We see a humorous and somewhat confusing conflict between arguing guards. This is made even more interesting by the appearance of a ghost. This, aside from creating interest, also helps to create the backstory.

2. We understand that the ghost is actually the dead king, that he's dressed in armor, he will not speak, and we are given some of the backstory such as the deaths of King Hamlet and Fortinbras, and the state their countries are in now.

3. The ghost reappears yet again. Once the guards learn it will not speak to them, one of them quickly tries to get the ghost to stay by hitting it. The ghost, of course, immediately leaves. The guards then wonder what the ghost is trying to tell them, and decide to bring the story to Hamlet to see if the ghost will speak to him instead.

4. The scene does a good job of developing a mood of uncertainty or doubt. The guards are arguing amongst themselves about whether they actually saw a ghost, or if this is even possible. When it is made clear to them that there is an apparition and they see it is their king dressed in armor, they cannot figure out why this would be the case. They have doubts throughout the whole scene.

5. They are apprehensive because they are confused. The ghost keeps disappearing and reappearing, and they're having arguments about whether what they saw was really a ghost or not. The second reason is that the ghost is the ghost of their king, and he's dressed in armor. They realize that this can be nothing but a warning.

6. Horatio thinks (and probably hopes) the king has come back to tell them of treasures and how to get them. His more grim (and more correct) prediction is that the king has come to warn them.

7. Horatio, Marcellus, Barnardo, Francisco, King's Ghost

8. He states that King Hamlet was a great enemy of King Fortinbras, and they had a battle.

9. He is the king of Old Fortinbras of Norway, and is in much the same situation as Hamlet. His father has died and his uncle has taken over the throne.

10. He basically states that there was disaster. He said corpses rose out of their graves speaking a language nobody could understand (zombie apocalypse already?) that stars fell leaving nothing but blood in their wakes, and that the moon was almost completely eclipsed.

11. Horatio at first does not believe there is a ghost at all. After it becomes clear to him that their is one, he is set apart from the others by consistently providing us with a different point of view. He's a scholar, so the reader is supposed to trust his opinion about what the ghost means and why it's there. He is also set apart by largely providing the reader with a backstory.

12. Horatio is present in this scene firstly to create conflict. He is always disagreeing with the other guards or presenting us with a different point of view. Also, because he's a scholar, Horatio is present to show us the history behind the events that are happening now and to set up the backstory.

13. We learn that Denmark and Norway are in a sort of feud.