Religiously Analyzing Hamlet PDF

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This paper is a literary analysis of the classic, Hamlet. The play is to make the reader interested to compare religious views of the play, the characters, and how it is relatable to the Elizabethan times. ...

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Religiously Analyzing Hamlet To think of Hamlet so vigorously does take a lot of energy to think about. Even after the reader is done reading, he or she may want to investigate what just happened in the play and then read it again. If the reader is interested to compare the religious views of the play, the characters and how it’s relatable to the Elizabethan times, this will take some intensive research. Looking at it from a Christian view and to rewrite the whole play, Richard Wagner has done so in his revision. Christiana von Braun wrote in her article, “…the play appears as a counterpart to Wagner’s work, where it is always salvation that flows from the sacred chalice.” Interpreting Hamlet as a whole play, Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a work of incest relationship between son and mother. The scene is known as “the closet scene”, where Hamlet approaches Gertrude in her bedroom and the ghost of his father appears to try to come between Hamlet and Gertrude before conflict arises. Braun writes, “There is, however, another possible interpretation of the incest theme in Hamlet. In this interpretation the fact that Gertrude shares the conjugal bed with her dead husband’s brother is not understood as the actual incestuous crime.” With that fact, it’s not actually true. Hamlet uses incest sarcastically to draw attention to himself and address the problem of Gertrude marrying her deceased husband’s brother after three months. Another example of incestuous relation between mother and son was when Gertrude drank the poisoned drink and dies after Hamlet chooses not to drink. Braun quotes Volkskorper, “In general, one could say that the Christian urge towards secularization manifests itself in the quest for a worldly, physiological definition of the Christian social body, and one of its consequences will be the Enlightment concept.” This means that no matter how Hamlet is viewed in Christianity, it will mean the same to everyone else in a way. The images used in Hamlet are parts of Christian traditions and symbolism. Braun writes about how God is part of the play in a few parts of the play, such as the prayer, sexuality, and Hamlet’s morals, for example. “What Wagner, in

the nineteenth century, was the first to offer is the reunification of the Christian collective body which had split into two separated social bodies during secularization,” Braun wrote. Rather or not the play was written in a Christian point of view, an intense reader should be open to look at from the opposite of Christianity, which is Roman Catholicism (Protestantism). The difference between the two religions is that looking at a subject at a Christian view means that the reader is taking consideration as in to look at a specific detail of the play towards God and what the bible would say. As for Roman Catholic, they look at details that would relate to the Saint Mary or Saint Peter. Aaron Landau writes an article about looking at Hamlet in a Catholic perspective. He discusses Hamlet’s morals and or maybe psychological reasoning for him to not to hesitate to kill Polonius, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, the king, and then turn the sword on himself in the end. Landau suggests to look at the play as some sort of Reformation and the concurrent skeptical crisis. Landau quotes Mark Matheson, “Religious discourse in integral to Hamlet, but Shakespeare’s representation of religion in the play is oblique and inconsistent.” Matheson took this idea perceptively to analyze the drama unfolding in the play and recognizes how diverse Roman Catholicism is involved in Hamlet, but yet very skeptic about the working factor. The play should never be considered as a statement on positive religious knowledge, but to think of as a work that continuously circles the topic of skepticism of deep religious hints. It is not only the character Hamlet trying to draw attention to him, Horatio abuses and uses whatever type of attention he can think of to make him a greater character. In result, Horatio’s attention only lead him to embarrassment of desperation in classical, superstitious, religious, and popularity senses. He also treat the ghost as a joke and, as Landau wrote, thinks the ghost “as an illusion, a foreboding sign, a soul in distress, a political sage, and a fortune hunter whose greed not even death can quench.” Not conclusively as Shakespeare may have planned, but Horatio thought of the ghost “as a ‘guilty thing’.” To Shakespearean scholars, they may have thought of the ghost of the play to be more

Christlike, but it is not confirmed. Landau wrote how the appearance of the ghost is casted as an unspoken, or upset, exposure that makes the character more disturbing but ironic. The iconic story of Christ’s return among his own disciples had served in Renaissance culture that is an important source of reference to religious skepticism. This can be proven in bible scriptures---John 20, Matthew 28:19, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:45, and John 20:23. Shigeo Kikuchi wrote that the Ghost was proven as evidence in Elizabethan times as a confession, and it could be necessary to endure a persuasion if complemented by more than one proof. Deciding if the play was either Christian or Catholic is up to the reader and scholars. The religious way of reading is the mystery that was described by Matheson about the direction of the play to be rather the play was written Roman-Catholic or Christian. This also fall in the hands of the characters of the play. In David Beauregard’s article, he wrote, “If Shakespeare moved in Catholic circles as these indications suggest, it should come as no surprise that, contrary to some recent critical claims, Hamlet does not appear to be a very Protestant play.” Looking into the main character, Hamlet himself, the reader can easily recognize he was going mad as he suffer through the chains of events in his life. Hamlet is a questionable character as he doubts his life until the very end. He encounters a lot of different characters, but the major character he encounters was the ghost of his father. The Ghost instructed Hamlet to kill King Claudius, but Hamlet fails. David Beauregard writes, “Shakespeare had a good reason to portray such a figure in such vengeful action.” This is true for around the time of Elizabeth’s reign in England. This time period was also known as “plots and errors” for Catholics. Beauregard records Hamlet’s swears and phrases he uses in the whole play that could relate back to Roman-Catholic. Phrases like “by St. Patrick” (one time), “by our lady” (twice), and theologically uses the Latin phrase “Hic et ubique” (“Here and everywhere”) twice. Hamlet also uses “nunnery” (five times) and mentioned merit twice. Beauregard continues to write about how

Hamlet’s reflections and stress of his father’s death is related to his mourning. The Ghost of Hamlet’s father visits his son again and hysterically shouting the word “remember” in a Catholic perspective. Some scholars question why Hamlet didn’t kill the King during the scene of the king praying. Shakespeare wrote this so Hamlet wouldn’t been the one to blame for the king’s death and wanted to portray the king as an Erastian tyrant whose using self-protection covers that is disrupting the traditional order. Ophelia, Hamlet’s love interest shouldn’t be forgotten either. Beauregard writes that if Ophelia reacted to the “ritual priestess” in all of the elements of her father’s funeral---the same mourning Hamlet had experienced---she would have thought of herself as disrupting the order of the funeral of her father. Shakespeare wrote Ophelia as anti-Erastian like the clowns. Ophelia’s suicidal death and burial, as Shakespeare had written, had touched the subject of excommunication. The three elements mentioned in Ophelia’s funeral---the sung hymns, the scattering of flowers, and sympathetic prayers--are part of a traditional pre-Reformation ritual. This progress was eliminated by the Tudor regime and Laertes’s expectations and disappointments were examples of what Elizabethan Catholicism may have looked like. The decision of the ways to look at Shakespeare’s play Hamlet in a Christian or a Catholic mater is up to the reader, audience, and scholar. Many proofs, big and small, seems to prove it was more Catholic than Christian. The play could have covered up to five different areas in Catholicism in detail, but no matter how the play is viewed, the characters and scenes will always interest the audience.

Works Cited

Beauregard, David. “’Great Command O’ersways the Orders’: Purgatory, Revenge, And Maimed Rites In Hamlet.” Religion & The Arts 11.1 (2007): 45-73 Academic Search Premier. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. Kikuchi, Shigo. “Unveiling The Dramatic Secret of ‘Ghost’ In Hamlet.” Journal of Literary Semantics 39.2 (2010): 103-117. Academic Search Premier. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. Landau, Aaron. “’Let Me Not Burst In Ignorance’: Skepticism And Anxiety In Hamlet.” English Studies 82.3 (2001): 218-230. Academic Search Premier. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. Shakespeare, William, and John Crowther. No Fear Shakespeare: Hamlet. New York: SparkNotes, 2003. Print. von Braun, Christa. “Richard Wagner: A Poisonous Drink.” New German Critique 69 (1996): 37. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Apr. 2014....