Religion In Hamlet Research Paper

Elizabethan Religious Values in Shakespeare’s Hamlet

William Shakespeare lived and wrote during a period of significant artistic and cultural flourishing. As being a part of the Renaissance, Shakespeare’s plays composed several examples of Elizabethan culture. Examining them reveals a variety of Elizabethan assumptions and values. These assumptions are clear in his play Hamlet, which is indebted to Elizabethan religions perspectives, many of which are still in practice today. There are a multitude of ways Elizabethan culture is reflected through Shakespeare’s use of religion in Hamlet. For example Elizabethan perspectives on the concept of purgatory are significantly explored in Hamlet. During the time Shakespeare’s play was written the

In these regards, one considers that the Ghost never mentions needing to receive atonement for its actions, only implying that it wants revenge. Further, the ghost is referred to as, “a dreadful sight and an omen of disaster,” both descriptions that would seem to demonstrate that the Ghost has been mutated and is not living in purgatory but has rather assumed some demonic or hellish form (“Concepts Of Heaven, Hell And Purgatory In Hamlet”). While later in the play Hamlet indicates, “‘heaven hath pleased it so/ That I must be their scourge and minister,” which would again seem to indicate that his purpose is to free his father from this purgatory state as a condition of God or heaven, when one considers the descriptions of the Ghost and its lack of effort in seeking atonement, one would consider that Hamlet is instead acting out of his own volition and not truly out of a sense of divine justice (“Concepts Of Heaven, Hell And Purgatory In Hamlet”). This perspective on the Ghost is also supported by Horatio who appears to reject the concept of it being something that exists in purgatory and more strongly implies that it is of a nefarious source. For instance, Horatio indicates that the ghost, “bodes some strange eruption to our state” ("Hamlet: Entire Play"). In this instance, Horatio’s indication that the Ghost bodes danger for the state would seem to be operating as a means through which he is not recognizing the Ghost as being a product of purgatory and is instead indicating that it is something that more accurately reflects a demonic