The Role of Religion in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”

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Introduction

There are many religious elements in Hamlet, but the main reason why religion is important to Hamlet relates to the ghost of his father, who has returned to Hamlet from purgatory. The concept and believability of the afterlife are enhanced by his father’s ghost, and it ultimately is not a fantasy for Hamlet, as his father told Hamlet that he has been in purgatory.

Body

The Afterlife and Hamlet’s Father’s Ghost

Also, Hamlet’s soliloquy at the beginning of the play is religious; he questions the benefits of continuing a life on Earth that is full of torture and pain. Hamlet would prefer to end his life on Earth but pauses only because of the afterlife; throughout his life, he goes through difficult events like aging, decline, oppression, lost love, and injustice.

Hamlet’s Existential Crisis and Moral Struggle

Hamlet asks for the point of continuing his torturous life on Earth and answers himself with “the dread of something after death, / The undiscovered country, from whose bourn / No traveler returns, puzzles the will, / And makes us rather bear those ills we have / Than fly to others that we know not of.” Moreover, Hamlet’s father was a good man: “He was a man, take him for all in all—I shall not look upon his like again.” Although he was not a saint, he was a good man who had ended up being tormented in purgatory. Now the words of the ghost to Hamlet gain significance. It seems that these words are always sticking in Hamlet’s mind.

“Doom’d for a certain term to walk the night, / And for the day confin’d to fast in fires, / Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature / Are burnt and purged away.” He tells Hamlet that he is in purgatory, which is a terrible form of existence. He tells Hamlet that by being murdered by Claudius, he cannot make his last reckoning. Through the words that don’t leave Hamlet’s mind throughout the play, he says: Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin, Unhousel’d, disappointed, unpeeled, No reck’ ning made, but sent to my account, / With all my imperfections on my head. / O horrible! O horrible! Most horrible!

At first, Hamlet is convinced that he should kill Claudius. He even draws his sword to do so. But then he notices that Claudius is engaged in the most sincere form of prayer, one that grants him forgiveness. He thinks that if he dies at this moment, he will go to paradise. So, Hamlet is convinced that killing Claudius at this moment is not the revenge he deserves. He has to be killed and sent to the exact place where his father was living.

Conclusion

To Hamlet, “This is hire and salary, not revenge.” It would not be the supernatural revenge that the ghost had asked him to take. Religion is the most important reason why Hamlet doesn’t kill his uncle, Claudius. Hamlet thinks that if he kills his uncle after his sincere repentance, his uncle will go to heaven.

References

“Hamlet and the Vision of Darkness” by Rhodri Lewis
“Shakespeare’s Hamlet and the Controversies of Self” by Edward Cahill

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The Role of Religion in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”

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