The scene opens with Hamlet, Horatio and Marcellus waiting at the place where the sentinels usually keep watch for the ghost. They start off joking and drinking and they question eachother wether it was normal to drink so much and make so much noise.

Then all of a sudden the ghost enters the scene. Hamlet is determined to speak with the ghost but it refuses to speak in front of the others and beckons Hamlet to follow him. Hamlet goes to follow the ghost but Horatio and Marcellus stop him and try to persuade him not to go. Haamlet still persists, and even after further attmeps to stop him by force, Hamlet forces through and goes, alone, to speak to the ghost.