When Hamlet talks with the Ghost (his dead father) in Act
I scene v, he is told about the foul murder committed by the King's brother, Claudius.
This confirms Hamlet's gut feeling that something just wasn't right, and it's the speech
which compels him to seek nothing but his father's revenge for the rest of the
play.
In the midst of the telling, though, the Ghost tells
Hamlet:
But
howsomever thou pursues this act,Taint not thy mind, nor
let thy soul contriveAgainst thy mother aught. Leave her
to heavenand to those thorns that in her bosom
lodgeto prick and sting
her.
In other words, leave
your mother out of any plan to seek revenge. In the scene you mention, Hamlet is doing
just what his father's ghost asked him not to do. The Ghost is there to remind him of
that request, of course. Primarily, though, the ghost appears to re-inspire Hamlet in
his plans for revenge.
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Do not forget. This
visitation
Is but to whet thy almost blunted
purpose.
So Hamlet is being
"scolded" by the Ghost for taking any of this out Gertrude and for having lost his focus
on the goal--avenging his death by killing Claudius.
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