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Role Of Religion In Hamlet

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Religious Issues in Shakespeare One of many things that we don’t know about Shakespeare is his religious beliefs. Through examining his plays and poetry, we can conclude Many of the religious themes we see in Hamlet are based off of Christian and Catholic beliefs. It is seen as a sin to take your own life. Hamlet recognizes it is against god’s will to take your own life in his first soliloquy in Act 1 scene 2. He is rejected the throne and his schooling. His relationship with his mother is gone and his father isn’t there to guide him anymore. Hamlet feels as if he has no purpose. He says the only thing keeping him from killing himself is the stain of sin. He is afraid to not believe in heaven or hell. At this moment in history, it is known that there is something above and below, but nothing specific. The ghost tells hamlet in Act 1 scene 5 that he could tell Hamlet stories about purgatory that would “harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood” but he’s forbidden to do so. Purgatory is believed to be the place …show more content…

Greed is displayed when Claudius is jealous of his brother’s power; he kills his brother and becomes king. Envy is also shown with Claudius as he wants his brother’s life. Lust is basically his mother marrying his uncle right after his father died. Hamlet believes his mother is being selfish when she goes from hanging on his father to hanging on his uncle in less than a month. Hamlet represents pride when he begins the fencing match and claims, “I shall win at all odds!” Claudius is too proud to save his wife from drinking the poison, so she dies at the mercy of his pride. Ultimately everyone dies except Horatio and that’s a result of Hamlet’s wrath. The only example of sloth I could find was King Hamlet sleeping without any guards or protection, making him an easy

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He has a choice to make, so he has to decide if living is worth living and if it is how he will deal with the situation that he has. Hamlet was conflicted he didn 't understand the value of his life in that exact moment. In Hamlets soliloquy the was thinking about the pro and cons of wether to end his life or deal with the problem that his dead father brought to him. He was starting to come to a decision when he’s thoughts were interrupted. This soliloquy brought to light the peoples that most people go through or think about.

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Claudius became so slothful and envious that he murdered King Hamlet, his own brother(Act 1, scene 5, line 40). Without Sloth, none of the other sins would be brought about in this play. If Claudius had a work ethic he might have been able to have the same powers and glory that his brother possessed. The sin caused by sloth also lead to make Claudius even worse. He married his sister in law and had to sin much more in order to cover his tracks(Act 1, Scene 5, line 44).

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Hamlet eventually kills Claudius like his father told him to, but only did it after his mother, Gertrude, drank the poison that Claudius meant to give Hamlet. This is a result of external action from all the sorrows that was building up in Hamlet’s life. This brings us to our next character, Gertrude, Claudius’s wife and Hamlets

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In the midst of Hamlet’s confrontation with his mother, the ghost appears and stares at him. Hamlet breaks down and tells the ghost not to look at him that way unless he wants him to cry instead of being powerful enough to get his revenge. While this happens, Gertrude holds to the belief that her son has gone mad as she watches him talk to himself. Gertrude can not see or hear the

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Oh God, God” (I.ii.129-132). Hamlet went on a rant to himself about how mad he was that his mother married his uncle so soon after his father’s death and he thought about ending his life. He later goes on to say how suicide is a sin, which is another thing to fuel his anger; but it does not stop him from killing himself in act

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His suicidal thought and his erratic behavior cause for the king, queen, Ophelia and his friends to begin to spy on him just pushes him over the edge. His action cause concern for King Claudius who shows in ways that he is not trusting of Hamlet because of this the King begins to plot with Laertes to kill hamlet in fencing dual. During this dual Hamlet is stabbed and dies from the poison that was on the blade. Gertrude is seems to be a shallow woman in some ways yet King Hamlet, Hamlet and King Claudius are all devoted to her.

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This is what causes Hamlet to compromise his love for Ophelia, as she is stunned and disrespected by his attitude. Similarly, Claudius wanted to gain power, and uses his ambitious attitude to murder his brother, quickly marry his widow, and take the throne himself. Despite their similar nature the two men are driven by different goals. Claudius works to gain and keep power, while Hamlet is working to seek revenge for his father. However, Claudius continues to rule in his power, and dwell in his wronged achievements allowing himself to pursue his

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This behavior caused disrespect and cruelness. While the king is sleeping like he is in heaven Claudius took that from him and sent him into purgatory. This made Hamlet feel even more angry against his uncle and wants to put him to an end. As a result,Hamlet wants to destroy Claudius for every wrong deed he did. Canales 3 Hamlet is severely motivated into killing for his actions.

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The pain that he is experiencing due to his father’s death and his mother’s dalliances can only be resisted by his faith and his belief in better and worse. Hamlet fears a damnation to Hell, and hopes for an easy passage to heaven, yet in a situation that many find hopeless, it is through his faith in God that Hamlet is able to resist the temptations of death. Throughout the play, Shakespeare emphasizes this intense faith that Hamlet possess and how it is a guiding force in many of his choices. Yet lack of faith can be even more telling. “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below;/ Words without thoughts never to heaven go” (Shakespeare,

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Firstly, Hamlet is a play of a man by the name of Hamlet, whose father was murdered by Claudius, his uncle. Claudius murdered the king by pouring poison in his ear to claim the throne for himself. Hamlet is then told by a ghost to murder Claudius for revenge, and he struggles within himself for the length of play whether to do it or not. When Hamlet begins to hesitate it does more damage than good and causes a chain reaction of tragic events, and makes the readers question whether Hamlet is truly sane or not. Claudius’s corruptness begins to show when he uses his authority to order those around him to rid of Hamlet.

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Values and beliefs are defining principles of the way in which we view a person, action or relationship. Often, we are encouraged to think again about these values and beliefs, after being exposed to challenging and insightful events, people, or material. William Shakespeare's tragedy, “Hamlet,” written in the Elizabethan era, encourages us to think about our values and beliefs surrounding revenge, love and loyalty. After examination of these concepts, the reader develops new insights into their values and beliefs, and come to fully support the statement that “ the most significant texts encourage us to think again about our values and beliefs.”

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Shakespeare presents death as an inevitable act of life, noting that all that is living must eventually come to an end. Due to “Hamlet” being a Shakespearean tragedy, the theme of death recurs throughout the play. Additionally, Shakespeare can be seen as using revenge as the main motive of a character’s murder, which makes “Hamlet” a revenge tragedy. The tragic nature means that by the end of the play, majority of the characters would have died. In this case, many of the characters have died due to murder or suicide.

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Or it can be seen as the ghost being some type of evil spirit trying to destroy hamlet through bad advice. The ghost is simply trying to free its spirit from purgatory and not trying to destroy hamlet, this is evident due to the fact that we know that Claudius killed Hamlet’s father in cold blood before he could pray for his sins. The ghosts role in the play is to tell Hamlet how he truly died. The nature in which the ghost appears in the play changes from appearance to appearance.

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Hamlet’s ability to overthink situations or decisions makes him conclude that committing suicide might be the easy way out of his indecisiveness. Hamlet overthinks every problem that is happening. He overthinks so much that he cannot make up his decision about what to do with the problem. The cluelessness that is going on within his mind makes him lose his mental status, life and the love of his life. Hamlets actions are hypnotized by his thoughts: “Thus Conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pitch and moment, With this regard their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action” (3.1.85-90).

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1156 Words | 5 Pages

Hamlet states, “ The spirit that I have seen, may be the devil, and the devil hath power, T’ assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps, out of my weakness and my melancholy, as he is very potent with such spirits, abuses me to damn me” (II.ii.627-632). The ghost resembles his father and leaves Hamlet confused and concerned. From the quote in the play, Hamlet believes that the ghost could possibly be the devil trying to persuade him into evil to continue his suffering. He also believes the ghost is targeting him because of his suffering; making him more vulnerable to evil. After numerous interactions between Hamlet and the ghost, the ghost reveals that he is Hamlet’s father.

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