HORATIO        And even the like precurse of feared events,

As harbingers preceding still the fates

And prologue to the omen coming on,

Have heaven and earth together demonstrated

Unto our climatures and countrymen.

Enter GHOST.

But soft, behold, lo where it comes again;

I’ll cross it though it blast me. Stay, illusion. (It spreads his arms ).          (1.1.120-126)

It’s not looking good, says Horatio: and even the like precurse of feared events, the forerunners, the precursors of the things we dread, are like harbingers, the heralds preceding still the fates, which always, always introduce the inevitable, and which are prologue to the omen coming on, which are as a prelude not just to the portent, it seems but which anticipate the catastrophe itself—omens and events are collapsing together in Horatio’s grimly pessimistic account of What The Ghost Means (death, disaster, war, political turmoil, it seems)—all of those things have been performed, made manifest, demonstrated by heaven and earth, and made abundantly clear unto our climatures and countrymen, our country and our nation. Grim times, lads. Brace yourselves. (Are these lines EVER performed? Their knottiness is part of the point—and perhaps help to establish that being a scholar, like Horatio, being able to put the crisis into words, cite precedents, explain, isn’t always going to help.)

But soft, behold, lo where it comes again! Ghost is back! Ssshhhhh! Look! There it is! I’ll cross it though it blast me. (For all his pontificating, Horatio has nerve.) I’ll make it stop, block its path, even though it might retaliate. Blast for an early modern audience suggests destroy, as disease might blight crops, perhaps even more than it might imply a flash of lightning, a smiting—but a modern hearer might more readily imagine zap, kapow, superhuman CGI. Stay, illusion! Stop! Don’t go! The stage direction, it spreads his arms, is only in Q2, and it could refer to the Ghost—oooooo! scary, raising its arms like a zombie!—or it could be Horatio, trying to block its path. Can you stop a spirit by making yourself big and waving your arms? Horatio’s about to find out…