In Genesis, the first book in the Bible, Adam and Eve partake of a fruit that God had forbidden them to eat. This action, which corrupted an otherwise innocent couple, is what many Christian faiths call original sin, or the Fall of man. The doctrine of original sin holds that every person born into the world is tainted by the Fall, and people are powerless to save themselves unless rescued by God. The thought of afterlife consequences and the inability to repent of misdoings leads many to fear death, and their actions coincide with their fears. The motif of original sin and its interpretations by characters Hamlet, Claudius, and Ophelia, appear frequently in Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, and support the idea that original sin and the fear of death and the afterlife affect one’s actions during mortality. Just as many characters in the play, Hamlet is of the Christian faith, and thus believes that he was predestined to commit his sins. When he …show more content…
When she goes mad, she sings of love lost and sexual betrayal, and after the way Polonius treated her, it is not surprising that she is unhappy. Although Gertrude says that Ophelia’s drowning was an accident, many believe she actually killed herself, and thus the church is reluctant to give her a full Christian burial. They claim that she killed herself in self-defense, but the gravediggers argue that: “‘It must be se offendendo. It cannot be else. For here lies the point: if I drown myself wittingly, it argues an act. And an act hath three branches—it is to act, to do, to perform. Argal, she drowned herself wittingly’” ( ). They say that even in self defense, Ophelia knowingly killed herself, which, by definition, is suicide. However, if she actually did kill herself, Ophelia’s loss of reason allows her give in to her emotions and leave Earth for eternity, despite the unknown of what is to