Examples Of Religion In Hamlet

Hamlet is a Shakespearean tragedy that discusses murder and revenge, whilst also intertwining morality and religion. Arguably the first instance that illustrates the view of religion is when the characters encounter the ghost of Hamlet Sr., which is viewed as a sinister omen. Horatio, Marcellus, and Barnardo are on guard duty in the castle at night when they see the ghost which Horatio says, “…bodes some strange eruption to our state” (1807). The unusual encounter frightens the men keeping watch as they fear it cannot mean anything good. After the rooster crows, the ghost vanishes, causing Marcellus to say, “Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrated, the bird of dawning singeth all night long. And then, they say, no spirit dare stir

abroad.

The nights are wholesome” (1810). This is another example of the view of religion that is present in the play, and shows the characters’ views on ghosts. Marcellus is saying that because it is the day of Jesus’s birth, ghosts do not wander the Earth and so the night is safe. Later, Hamlet encounters his father’s ghost for himself. The ghost tells him, “I am thy father’s spirit; doomed for a certain term to walk the night, and for the day confined to fast in fires, till the foul crimes done in my days of nature are burnt and purged away” (1823). The spirit of Hamlet Sr. is stuck in purgatory which is a Roman Catholic theology. Purgatory requires that, after death, a person must first purify himself in order to be worthy of heaven. The ghost of Hamlet Sr. roaming the Earth is bound by this purgatory. Ironically, the ghost is supposed to be atoning for his sins from his past life, yet asks Hamlet to murder King Claudius to “revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (1823). Considering murder is an atrocious crime, it is paradoxical that the ghost would ask Hamlet to commit such

a terrible sin.
Hamlet procrastinates when it comes to murdering Claudius. At first, he decides that he must verify that the ghost is telling the truth, so that he is not committing a horrible sin for no good reason. After watching Claudius’s reaction to the play-within-a-play, Hamlet is able to confirm that the ghost was telling the truth when he said that Claudius murdered Hamlet Sr. Hamlet then resolves to go through with the plot for revenge and kill Claudius. When Hamlet is presented with a convenient opportunity to murder Claudius while the latter is praying, he delays and wrestles with his morality. Hamlet says to himself, “Now I might do it pat, now he is praying and now I’ll do ‘t: and so he goes to heaven: and so I am revenged … a villain kills my father; and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven” (1860). Hamlet struggles with the prospect of avenging his father by murdering Claudius while he prays, but that would mean Claudius would go directly to heaven. Ultimately, Hamlet decides that he will wait until when Claudius is not praying to murder him. Since Hamlet’s father was not allowed to confess his sins before he died, he is bound to purgatory, so Hamlet wants the same torture for Claudius. Ironically, after Hamlet leaves with resolve to murder Claudius at another time, Claudius says, “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to heaven go” (1861). Basically, Hamlet missed his chance to kill Claudius because Claudius believes that his prayers are useless and insincere, so he is not absolved of his sins.
Another example of the views of religion throughout Hamlet involve how suicide is viewed. After the death of his father and remarriage of his mother, Hamlet considers suicide and wishes that, “…the Everlasting had not fixed his canon ‘gainst self-slaughter!” (1813). This leads to a deeper internal conflict within Hamlet. Later, with Ophelia’s questionable death, the gravedigger says, “Is she to be buried in Christian burial when she willfully seeks her own salvation?” (1884). The gravediggers argue over whether or not to give Ophelia a proper Christian funeral, on the chance that she did commit suicide. Laertes asks the priest about the details of Ophelia’s funeral, but the priest says that “…her death was doubtful” and that, “…shards, flints, and pebbles should be thrown on her” because she committed a sin if she did in fact commit suicide.