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Is christianity a factor in hamlet
Is christianity a factor in hamlet
The difficulties of revenge in Hamlet
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Hamlet Essay
Christianity and Hamlet
Ecclesiastes 7: 17 said “Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time?” Suicide is an important part in the bible. It is one of the things that is considered a sin in Christianity. The bible has lessons and commandments for Christians to follow and those lessons are represented in books. In the early 1600’s religion was an important part of people’s lives and writers incorporated it into their writings. William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet in the early 1600’s and he wrote about religion while he was writing about a prince’s revenge on his uncle. His uncle killed his father and he was prepared to take revenge. Hamlet and Christianity are both about the good, the bad and the afterlife which makes Hamlet a Christian play.
“You shall not murder.” That is one of the Ten Commandments in the bible. Murder, suicide and revenge are all in the bible. The bible states that you should not murder, take your own life and get revenge on someone. Hamlet is however based on murder, suicide and revenge. Hamlet’s uncle murdered his own brother in order to take the crown. Murder is a sin and Claudius knows what he has done is wrong. His “offense is rank, it smells to heaven; It hath the primal eldest curse upon’t/A brother’s murder”(3.3.40). The sin he has committed is one of the greatest sins; killing a brother. It is one of the first curses as said in Genesis (4.10-12). This is a sin that is mentioned in the bible and that is committed in Hamlet. In one of his soliloquies Hamlet knows that God is “canon ‘gaisnt (self-slaughter!) O God, God, How (weary,) stale, flat and unprofitable/ Seem to me all the uses of the world!”(1.2.136) Hamlet considers killing himse...
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... will get you to hell. Doing good deeds and asking for forgiveness and praying will get you to heaven. If you commit one of the oldest curses like murdering your own brother like Claudius did, your afterlife is different and more complicated than others. If you kill yourself like Ophelia did you are definitely going to hell because taking away what God created is a sin. In Christianity there is no questions about the after life. There is purgatory but there is also heaven and hell. Depending on how you spent your living years you will either go to heaven or hell. In Hamlet these commandments and these truths are represented. In the choices the characters like Claudius and Hamlet make, they consciously know it is either right or wrong. They relate their choices to the bible and Christianity and the actions each character takes makes Hamlet a Christian play.
William Shakespeare was a Stratford Grammar School boy, who was a member of the Church of England, similar to just about everyone else in Stratford. However, due to some events that occurred in the Shakespeare family home, there is some evidence that could prove that the family may have had some Roman Catholic connections. When William Shakespeare was 10 years old, legal issues and debt took a toll on his family’s life. Shakespeare’s father’s stopped attending alderman meetings which resulted in the removal of his name to become an alderman, and he was also forced to sell his beautiful home. The cause of this crisis is unknown, however the records can be used to throw together the idea that there were peculiar religious events going on (Fox). Due to these mishaps, William Shakespeare’s religion is a bit of a mystery. The play, Hamlet, was written by William Shakespeare during the Elizabethan era, which happened to be a time when religious conflicts were a big deal (Alsaif). The protagonist in the story, Hamlet, is a character who seems to make his choices through his religious beliefs. Hamlet is a very indecisive person, but his thoughts on religion tend to persuade him. In the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare uses the character of Hamlet to show the flaws in all religions. Hamlet does his best to follow the rules of Christianity, but he often questions the morality involved. Although Shakespeare belonged to the Church of England, he didn’t find any particular religion to be perfect.
Hamlet Compare and contrast between Hamlet and Laertes William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” is known as the best tragedy play of all times. Each one of the characters has their own unique personality, but some of them are very alike. Hamlet, the main character, and Laertes, one of the other leading roles, are very much alike but at the same time slightly different. Their experiences collide and they both make some decisions, which change their lives forever. Hamlet and Laertes both display impulsive reactions when angered.
From the death of his father, the late King Hamlet, he is often faced with thoughts of suicide, sin, and life after death. Through his first soliloquy, Hamlet contemplates suicide because he cannot deal with the pain from his father’s death and the new marriage of his mother, Queen Gertrude and his uncle Claudius. Following Christian values, he goes on to say that it would be sin to do so, “O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, Thaw and resolve itself into a dew! Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter!” (Act I, Scene II, line 129-132). He continues to keep this “Christian value” till the end of the play, but further contemplates his ow...
Something was definitely rotten in the state of Denmark. The king was dead of a murder most foul, a betrayal from his own brother, young Hamlet was thrown out of the frying pan, which was his father's passing, and into the fire of revenge. On would think that an act of revenge such as this, retribution from an enraged son over the unjust murder of his father, would come so quickly, wildly, and brutally, driven by anger and rage. This simply was not the case in William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. As the young prince Hamlet carefully thought out his plans for revenge over a rather large amount of time due to his own apparent weakness, inaction. "The smallest deed is greater than the grandest intention"(Stokes 90). Hamlet was full of grand ideas and intentions on how to kill the King, but he failed to act and to carry out the deed that was his revenge, the destruction of Claudius. Why did Hamlet choose and it was his choice, not to take revenge on Claudius quickly and decisively? Hamlet had his own reasons for inaction; the strategy that he felt best suited his revenge.
According to the bible, if you repent of your sins you will be forgiven and go to heaven when you die, Hamlet believes this and that is why he does not kill Claudius in this scene. Another reason he does not kill his Claudius based on the reason above, he will not give Claudius the glory of going to heaven when Claudius did not give his father the choice to repent of his sins before he was killed.
“O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, Thaw and resolve itself into a dew! Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon ’gainst self-slaughter! O God, God”(I, 2, 129-132). Hamlet is whining about that he wished his flesh would be melted away, but he is also then saying that God made suicide a sin. I find this quote to be very interesting because it somewhat brings in a relationship between Hamlet and God. Hamlet does not really support what God has made a sin, but that does not mean Hamlet disobeys God. Reading Hamlet on a basic level will give us what we need to know, but looking further in, it is quite surprising to find religious thoughts and how Shakespeare incorporated it in. Hamlet could easily have ignored God, but because suicide is a sin, he would rather listen and try to reach Heaven one
Many people question the psychological condition of the character Hamlet in the sixteenth century play Hamlet written by William Shakespeare. One of the reasons that the mental health of hamlet is in question by many people is the result of hamlet's actions as well as his reactions to events that occur during the play. Some people argue that the character Hamlet is insane, while others may argue that his insanity can be justified by several means such as his need for justice of his father's murder. However, Hamlet's need for justice or revenge does not necessarily justify Hamlet's behavior in the play. In addition, Hamlet's behavior falls into several categories of insanity such as shizophrenia. Therefore, there are many ways in which it can be proven that hamlet may truly be insane.
William Shakespeare is seen to many as one of the great writers in history. More specifically, the characters in his plays are reviewed and criticized and have been so for nearly four centuries. The character that many have revered Shakespeare for is perhaps the greatest such character ever in literature, Hamlet from Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The commentary and response to this legend of literature is of wide array and opinion, though most, such as Pennington, believe him to be a truly magnificent character: "Hamlet is perhaps the cleverest hero ever written, the subject of the first European tragedy, a form of genius. A type Shakespeare despaired of writing thereafter, having perceived that the heroes of tragedies must be sublime idiots" (185). However, despite his clear gifts and aura, Hamlet was a doomed character from the beginning: Hamlet is dominated by an emotion that is inexpressible. It is thus a feeling he cannot understand, he cannot objectify it, and it therefore remains open to poison life and to obstruct action" (Eliot 25). Thus, Hamlet, while possessing the traits of no other men of his time, a true Renaissance man, was doomed from the beginning of the play partly by forces he could not control, and also partly by his own character. It leads to a slow but definite ending to one of literature's great characters, one that he could not control. In the end, Hamlet was out of place in his environment, he was simply not meant to be.
Why do people crave power, fortune, and lust when all it leads to is corruption, greed, and/or death? In the play of Hamlet by William Shakespeare, one character's greed for power and fortune leads to tragedy. First, Claudius murders King Hamlet and attempts to kill prince Hamlet inorder to keep the crown to rule Denmark. Secondly, Claudius sets up a plan that involves putting a poisonous pearl in the winner's victory cup that eventually Gertrude drinks. He also puts poision on the tip of the sword that eventually kills Laertes in the duel. Lastly, Claudius sends Rosencranz & Guildenstern to escort Hamlet to England to secretly be killed so that he can keep the crown. One may object that Polonius' death was not the fault of Claudius' greed because Hamlet killed Polonius. However, Hamlet was obsessed with killing Claudius because he wanted to seek revenge for his father. Claudius' Greed for power is to blame for all the tragedies in the play Hamlet.
The view of suicide in Hamlet is the same as Christians. Characters in Hamlet say that if you commit suicide you do not go to heaven because of your sins (we'll get to
Faith plays a large role in how one lives their life. Christianity plays a strong role throughout Hamlet by William Shakespeare. When reading the play one must think of the controversies of the time when Shakespeare writes the play. Reformation and Renaissance opinions are reflected throughout. Shakespeare deals with very controversial attitudes and religious questions dealing with death, the existence of purgatory, morality, murder, suicide and marriage in his play Hamlet. It is obvious throughout the play that Hamlet’s life is guided by his faith and his religious beliefs.
Once Hamlet stumbles upon his uncle praying he says: “Now might I do it pat now a is praying. / And now I’ll do’t, / and so a goes to heaven, / And so I am revenged. That would be scanned. / A villain kills my father, and for that / I, his sole son, do this same villain send / to heaven” (3.4.73-77). Hamlet had the perfect opportunity to commit regicide here yet instead of going to Claudius and killing him Hamlet stays back and once again begins to ponder the possibilities of whether or not this is really a good time to do it. Hamlet’s religious beliefs surely play a strong role here because he starts to question what will happen if he kills his uncle while he is praying. Hamlet does, as the quote reveals come to the conclusion that if he were to kill his uncle now he would go to heaven, and not hell where the ghost claimed to have to return to “My hour is almost come. / When I sulph’rous and tormenting flames / Must render up myself” (1.5.4-6). Hamlet did prove that the ghost was his father so knowing that his father is suffering because of his uncle hamlet has no desire to kill Claudius while he is in a position to go to heaven. Normally religious arguments are based on pure speculation however this is not the case for Hamlet; because he has seen the spirit of his late father who did confess to Hamlet that there was in fact a hell to go to because he has to
In addition to this internal struggle, Hamlet feels it is his duty to dethrone Claudius and become the King of Denmark. This revenge, he believes, would settle the score for his mother’s incestuous relationship and would reinstate his family’s honor. These thoughts are solidified in Act I, Scene 5, when his father’s ghost appears and informs Hamlet that is was Claudius who murdered him, and that Claudius deprived him “of life, of crown, and queen” (line 75). This information leads to Hamlet’s promise to kill Claudius, while not punishing his mother for their incestuous marriage. His statement, “thy commandment all alone shall live within the book and volume of my brain” (lines 102-103), demonstrates his adamant decision to let nothing stand in the way of his promise for revenge.
While contemplating, Hamlet thinks to himself: “now might I do it pat, now he is praying and now I’ll do‘t: and so he goes to heaven: and so am I revenged” (3.3.75-76); however, readers can see the thought process of Hamlet and the way religious thinking weighs in on his decisions. Hamlet then states, “that would be scanned; A villain kills my father; and for that, I, his sole son, do the same villain send to heaven” (3.3.77-78). Hamlet realizes that killing Claudius right then when he is getting forgiveness from God for his sin he committed, would send Claudius to heaven, thus, not getting his revenge at