The Ghost of Hamlet's Father

In Act I Scene 5 of Hamlet, the Ghost of Hamlet's father appears to Hamlet and beckons him to follow him. Hamlet is initially restrained by his friends, but eventually breaks away to hear what the ghost has to tell him. "My hour is almost come," says the Ghost, "When I to sulph'rous amd tormenting flames/must render up myself." But before that hour arrives, he relates to Hamlet how he was treacherously murdered by his brother, Hamlet's uncle.

Gillray turns the ghost of Hamlet's father into a horned demon who beckons Alderman Boydell "to sulph'rous and tormenting flames" which he no doubt believed Boydell richly deserved.