HORATIO                                Stop it, Marcellus!

MARCELLUS   Shall I strike it with my partisan?

HORATIO        Do, if it will not stand.

BARNARDO    ’Tis here.

HORATIO                    ’Tis here. [Exit GHOST.]

MARCELLUS                           ’Tis gone.

We do it wrong being so majestical

To offer it the show of violence,

For it is as the air, invulnerable,

And our vain blows malicious mockery.     (1.1.138-145)

Stop it, Marcellus! Horatio is presumably unarmed (or at least has only a dagger, possibly a rapier), a civilian, he looks to the actual soldiers to intervene as the Ghost—stalks? moves swiftly, with a swirl of cloak, comes right at him, threateningly, to barge past? But Marcellus is still asking permission, of a kind, to act: shall I strike it with my partisan?He’s frightened, he doesn’t want to do the wrong thing, get into trouble; he’s also wondering whether this is the sort of thing that can be struck at, with his spear or halberd: can you hit a ghost, or even bar its way? They’re about to find out: do, if it will not stand, says Horatio. Do your on-guard thing. If it won’t stop, absolutely have a go at it! And then a bravura exit: it doesn’t matter how the Ghost gets offstage, because as far as Horatio, Marcellus, and Barnardo are concerned, and the audience too, it’s everywhere and nowhere: ’Tis here. ’Tis here. ’Tis gone. We look to them as they speak, point, gesture, perhaps run around the stage, rather than at the Ghost, and in the confusion, it vanishes. Exit Ghostindeed.

But Marcellus is feeling guilty and worried, especially if he did indeed strike at it with his partisan: we do it wrong being so majestical to offer it the show of violence. It was a bad idea to try to hit it; it’s clearly royal, it’s our dead King! And, besides, it is as the air, invulnerable—there’s no point trying to beat the air, you can’t DO anything, there’s no substance, it’s a spirit, airy you can’t hurt it! Even more, our vain blows, pointless as they are, are still malicious mockery, pathetic and feeble. We’ve insulted the ghost, and for no reason; perhaps that’s why it’s vanished. We’ve messed up!