The play Hamlet opens with the officers guarding the royal palace who are terrified. Why are they terrified. [British Drama (2018-19) Assignment 1]

In the opening scene of Shakespeare's play "Hamlet," the guards are seen standing guard outside the royal palace of Elsinore in Denmark. They are terrified because they have seen the ghost of the recently deceased King Hamlet, who appears to them in the form of a pale and melancholy figure wearing armor. The guards are unsure what the appearance of the ghost means, and they fear that it may be an omen of evil or a warning of some kind. They decide to inform Hamlet's friend Horatio, who is a scholar and philosopher, about the ghost's appearance, and he decides to investigate the matter further with Prince Hamlet. This sets the stage for the central conflict of the play, as Hamlet becomes obsessed with avenging his father's murder and sets out to unravel the mystery surrounding his death.