Religion

Religion

1. The Ghost

   • Depending on whether or not the audience is experiencing the play as a protestant or a Catholic their view of the ghost will be very different. A protestant audience will believe the ghost to be an evil spirit sent by Satan to tempt Hamlet. If the audience is Catholic they will believe the ghost as a figure released from purgatory in order to help right a spiritual wrong.

2. Suicide

   • In many religions at the time suicide was considered to be a sin
   • In Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy he contemplates suicide, and at the end of that speech he seems to refrain from suicide, in part, because he cannot be sure what will happen to his spirit after his death. Fear of the aftermath of death, as much as any desire to continue living, prompts Hamlet to refrain from killing himself
   • A5 S1 OPHELIA'S FUNERAL
     • The Priest says that "her death was doubtful" meaning that Ophelia may have committed suicide rather than drowning by accident.
       • Because Ophelia has committed suicide and is not allowed all the funeral rites the Priest says that "she should be in the ground unsanctified" and that "shards, flints, and pebbles should be thrown on her." Ophelia is only allowed even such little respect because Claudius is trying to appear king and to keep Laertes from killing him

3. Hamlet's Revenge

   • When Hamlet is given the chance to enact his revenge on Claudius in Act 3 Scene 3, he chooses not to as Claudius is praying, and he believes that if Claudius dies while praying, he will go to heaven

4. Claudius

   • "O, my offence is rank it smells to heaven; // It hath the primal eldest curse upon't, // A brother's murder"
     • Claudius has committed both regicide and fratricide (the oldest sin), he shows awareness of his sin but refuses to pray as he is not entirely repentant for what he has done

5. A03

   • Leviticus 18:16 "You must not have sexual intercourse with your brother's wife; she is your brother's nakedness." When Hamlet was written society's laws were based off the Bible. and so the marriage between Claudius and Gertrude would be seen as incest.