Editing Ghost (section)

===Renaissance to Romanticism (1500 to 1840)===
One of the more recognizable ghosts in [[English literature]] is the [[King Hamlet|shade of Hamlet's murdered father]] in Shakespeare's ''The Tragical History of [[Hamlet, Prince of Denmark]]''. In ''Hamlet'', it is the ghost who demands that [[Prince Hamlet]] investigate his "murder most foul" and seek revenge upon his usurping uncle, [[King Claudius]].

In [[English Renaissance theater]], ghosts were often depicted in the garb of the living and even in armor, as with the ghost of Hamlet's father. Armor, being out-of-date by the time of the Renaissance, gave the stage ghost a sense of antiquity.<ref>Ann Jones & Peter Stallybrass, ''Renaissance Clothing and the Materials of Memory'', Cambridge University Press, 2000.</ref> But the sheeted ghost began to gain ground on stage in the 19th century because an armored ghost could not satisfactorily convey the requisite spookiness: it clanked and creaked, and had to be moved about by complicated pulley systems or elevators. These clanking ghosts being hoisted about the stage became objects of ridicule as they became clichéd stage elements. Ann Jones and Peter Stallybrass, in ''Renaissance Clothing and the Materials of Memory'', point out, "In fact, it is as laughter increasingly threatens the Ghost that he starts to be staged not in armor but in some form of 'spirit drapery'."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Holland|first1=Peter|title=Shakespeare Survey: Volume 58, Writing about Shakespeare|date=2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=40}}</ref>