RALPH:  So, to top it all off, the King was killed without the opportunity to confess and be absolved of his sins; that's why he must atone for them by suffering in Purgatory. These words — unhouseled, disappointed, unaneled — sound strange to us, but they also would have sounded strange to Shakespeare's audience — they were old or unusual words even back then, and they must have given the ghost a kind of archaic air.

SARAH:  In fact, Ralph, the ghost’s speech in general is full of rare and exotic words — part of the mystery and otherworldliness of the ghost’s appearance is conveyed by his very language.

RALPH:  We should also mention the subtle word play in the phrase "cut off even in the blossoms of my sin".  The king was “cut off”, or killed, while his sins were "in blossom", that is, still having their full effect on his soul since he had not yet confessed them. Here, the image of the blossom is negative.

SARAH:  But at the same time, Shakespeare is evoking the poignant vision of King Hamlet as a flower cut off in full bloom — now the image of the blossom is bittersweet, but nonetheless positive.