Hamlet And Religion Essay

Morality and behaviour are often linked with conforming to a religious belief. Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a tragedy like no other as it dives deep into the impact of religion and interprets how religious beliefs are a factor that influences character motives. Hamlet’s battle between the divine law, his suicidal struggles, and his views on destiny all play a role in his religious motivations and fear of becoming a sinner. As a result of his religious beliefs holding him back, Hamlet was led down a path of indecision and reluctance that became his fatal flaw.
Due to the rigorous religious views throughout the Elizabethan Era, the concept of divine rights emerged from Christian ideals in which rulers receive their authority from God and therefore

Upon his encounter with the “ghost” of his father, Hamlet is exposed to the truth about his father's death: “Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard, a serpent stung me [...] The serpent that did sting thy father’s life now wears his crown” (Shakespeare, 1.5. 40–45). The ghost reveals to Hamlet that his uncle Claudius poisoned his father. He uses Biblical imagery from the Book of Genesis to compare Claudius to the snake who caused Adam and Eve's sinful fall in the Garden of Eden. Reluctantly as to whether the ghost is truly his father or a demonic entity, Hamlet is led down a path of indecision and inability to act because he fears his fate of becoming a sinner in the eyes of God. Whether he kills Claudius to avenge his father, Hamlet faces the moral dilemma of throwing off the balance of the divine right of kings if the ghost was telling the truth. Otherwise, he has condemned himself to a life of sins and would find himself in hell in the

With his father murdered, his mother’s marriage to the murder, and the looming attack on Denmark, Hamlet contemplates the merits of suicide, asking why people choose a life of suffering over death. He states “To be, or not to be? That is the question—Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And, by opposing, end them?” (3.1. 62–66). Hamlet wants to enter a peaceful sleep, leaving behind the struggles that are testing him. However, his religious beliefs make him reconsider taking his life because it is considered an immoral and a forbidden sin against God, “His canon ’gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God! (1.2. 133). His hesitancy to take his life because of religious morality perpetuates his suffering and he further justifies his decision to not act due to the unknown nature of what awaits in the afterlife. Ophelia, where some critics believe she has taken her life to alleviate her madness and hurt, could find herself in hell in the afterlife because Christian beliefs state that one cannot redeem themselves after suicide. Unlike Ophelia, Hamlet can not bring himself to commit, and therefore he suffers more from his tragic flaw from the consequences of his lack of action and