The secret Catholic meaning of Hamlet

[Michael12]

I have written an article which provides an allegorical interpretation of Shakespeare's Hamlet based on the idea that the Bard was a secret Catholic. {edit}
In the article I have assigned a symbolic meaning to each of the main characters in Hamlet:

Hamlet's father - the Catholic Church in England prior to the Reformation
Hamlet - Catholics in Protestant England
Claudius - the Church of England
Gertrude - Protestants in England
Polonius - pagan Greek Philosopy
Ophelia - pre-Christian pagan "spirit" of England
Laertes - Protestants who are heavily influenced by Greek Philosophy


This is based on the work of Joseph Pearce who in his books such as The Quest for Shakespeare (http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/authors/josephpearce.asp) makes the case for Shakespeare's Catholicism.

I hope you can take the time to have a look at my article and provide some feedback. Thanks.

[Virgil]

There has been a lot of criticism written on the Protestant/Catholic elements of Hamlet. You realize Hamlet (the character) attends Wittenberg University, the premier Protestant university of the time? I've never, however, seen an allegorical representation of characters such as you present, and I must say I don't buy into it at all. Whatever religious theme that is in the play, it is not allegorical, nor is Shakespeare endorsing one religion over another.

My sense is that Shakespeare may have been Anglo-Catholic or a high Anglican, which is nearly Catholic, but the puritanism, of say the Milton variety and led to the low church Anglicanism, came after Shakespeare. Frankly I don't believe Shakespeare was adament about religion in general.

[Michael12]

Hi Virgil. I'm glad you brought up Wittenberg. Hamlet, Horatio, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were all students at Wittenberg. And as you say this is relevant to the Protestant/Catholic theme. Consider this dialog between Hamlet and Horatio in Act 1 Scene 2.


HAMLET
But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg?

HORATIO
A truant disposition, good my lord.

HAMLET
I would not hear your enemy say so,
Nor shall you do mine ear that violence,
To make it truster of your own report
Against yourself: I know you are no truant.

Horatio, seems to say that he was either kicked out of Wittenberg University, or decided on his own that it was not for him. Hamlet seems to call Wittenberg Horatio's enemy, and by implication also his own.

My suggestion is that Hamlet reads Horatio's statement as a coded message. It is through this "secret handshake" that Hamlet learns that Horatio is a co-conspirator - a covert Catholic in a dangerous, increasingly Protestant world. And it is this which gives Hamlet the confidence to share with Horatio his deepest secrets.

Notice also that Hamlet signals back to Horatio, that he has clearly understood his message and that Horatio in turn can confide in him. Horatio is the one character in the play that Hamlet shows true respect for and never mocks. We can be sure that whenever Hamlet is speaking in private with Horatio that he is expressing his (and Shakespeare's) true thoughts.

There is also a possible hint in the words "in faith". And finally when Hamlet says "I know you are no truant" it could be a play on words in which Shakespeare intends to convey "I know you are no Protestant." I say this keeping in mind the wit of Hamlet and his profuse use of double meaning.

[Michael12]

I found this interesting comment on the use of "truant" in the dialog between Hamlet and Horatio:


"Finally, the wordplay on "truant" may help us know Horatio, who attributes his presence at Elsinore to his "truant disposition." Horatio uses "truant" in the sense of "one who absents himself from school without leave" [OED]. Hamlet may be playing on another then-common meaning of "truant" when he replies, "I know you are no truant." In Shakespeare's time, mendicant orders of monks were called "truants" because their members were required regularly to beg. Although Horatio is a poor, patient, all-suffering and dispassionate ascetic, Hamlet denies he's a monk. On the other hand, Luther was a mendicant of the Augustinian Hermit."

Keeping in mind my suggestion that Shakespeare may be playing with the similarity in sound between "truant" and "protestant", the idea that "truant" could refer directly to Luther makes this a much stronger proposition. The implication is that Horatio is not like Luther.

[YesNo]

If Gertrude most resembles Catherine of Aragon, as you argue, and Catherine of Aragon was Catholic, wouldn't it make sense to see Gertrude as representing Catholics rather than Protestants?

Alternatively, to test the theory, if you try to switch their symbolic roles could you make an argument that Shakespeare was Protestant?

I don't know.

I do recall from seeing Hamlet that I was most annoyed with Gertrude and Ophelia. Admittedly, Claudius is no one to admire, but he is overtly wicked. The two females, who seem like mirror images of each other, are self-centered and power-hungry and yet have a semblance of being good. They are like most of us, I suppose.

[Lokasenna]

There is certainly religious tension at the heart of Hamlet - but I'm not convinced by your reading of it.

For a start, you lay significance on Shakespeare's use of royalty as a major part of the cast, and suggest this is symbolic of Henry VIII and so forth. Well, I would be more inclined to peg it down to two reasons:

(1) It is a Renaissance convention that tragedy can only revolve around the nobility. If you're going to write a tragedy, it's likely to have high-ranking nobles in it (i.e King Lear, Macbeth, The Spanish Tragedy, The Duchess of Malfi etc.)

(2) Hamlet has a significant source history, and Shakespeare's editing of the story is minimal. I've read Saxo's original, and I've even published on Hrólfs saga kraka - the basic plot elements are essentially unchanged. Furthermore, if there was an Ur-Hamlet (and I'm inclined to believe there was), then Hamlet represents a rewriting of a recent play.

If it was a reworking, then I would suggest (and most scholars would agree with me) that the most significant alterations Shakespeare makes are to do with the way he plays so originally with the tropes of the revenge-tragedy. Your argument requires us accepting that each character represents a certain 'label' that you have given them - but this really is conjecture, without tangible textual proof. I could assign similar labels to the cast of pretty much any play, novel or film and create a similar allegory.

However, you are right on the mark about religious tension, though I don't believe that it is as politicised as you suggest. For example, shortly before the play was produced, the Church of England had abolished purgatory, calling it papist heresy. This makes the issue of the ghost problematic. Far from representing Catholicism, Hamlet is constantly trying to renegotiate his position in a world where dogma, tradition and social constraint simply cannot be trusted.

Still, your paper was an interesting read!

[Michael12]

Hi YesNo. I have to admit I waffled on the interpretation of Queen Gertrude. Physically it makes sense that she would be associated with Catherine of Aragon, since Gertrude remarries just like Catherine. But symbolically I have tied her to the people of England that jump from Catholicism into the bed of King Henry VIII's Church of England.

In this interpretation Hamlet is a loyal Catholic who is disgusted by this sudden conversion, and attempts to convince the Queen [the English people] to return to their first love which is Old Hamlet [the Catholic Church].

I'm not sure how that can be reversed to make Hamlet a Protestant, but I think the similarity between Henry VIII and Claudius are unmistakeable.

[Michael12]

Hi Lokasenna. I'm glad you found it interesting. It was fun for me to write and also I'm enjoying the comments and thinking about how to respond. I'll gladly admit to a great deal of "conjecturing" as you say. At least you didn't call it "wild conjecturing". :)

The ghost and purgatory has certainly caused a lot of speculation about a Catholic element. It was this and other hints that got me interested in diving into Hamlet further to see what possible "Catholic clues" Shakespeare might have left – sort of like reading a detective story.

I realize the plot was copied from another source. I assume however that the dialog is uniquely Shakespeare. And it is in the details of the dialog that Shakespeare shapes his characters and gives them multiple levels of meaning. I think the association of Old Hamlet with Catholicism and Claudius with Protestantism is on pretty firm ground. As for the rest of the characters, I'll admit its much less clear.

For example I really didn't know what to do with Ophelia, but I like what I eventually came up with. If you interpret her as I did representing a pre-Christian England spirit, then the word "nymph" which Hamlet uses to describe her receives a new life. And the description of Ophelia's death by Queen Gertrude seems to echo this.


Her clothes spread wide;
And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up:
Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds;
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and indued
Unto that element

It is as if Ophelia in death is irresistibly drawn to once more become a water nymph.

http://www.toffsworld.com/art_artists_painters/images/ophelia.jpg
John Millais - Ophelia, 1850

[Virgil]

My suggestion is that Hamlet reads Horatio's statement as a coded message. It is through this "secret handshake" that Hamlet learns that Horatio is a co-conspirator - a covert Catholic in a dangerous, increasingly Protestant world. And it is this which gives Hamlet the confidence to share with Horatio his deepest secrets.

Notice also that Hamlet signals back to Horatio, that he has clearly understood his message and that Horatio in turn can confide in him. Horatio is the one character in the play that Hamlet shows true respect for and never mocks. We can be sure that whenever Hamlet is speaking in private with Horatio that he is expressing his (and Shakespeare's) true thoughts.

This seems way too close to conspiracy theories. Why would Shakespeare be so secretive, and why doesn't Hamlet's true feelings come out in his soliloquies? Shakespeare doesn't write allegorically. Why would he do so in this play?

[Michael12]

This seems way too close to conspiracy theories. Why would Shakespeare be so secretive, and why doesn't Hamlet's true feelings come out in his soliloquies? Shakespeare doesn't write allegorically. Why would he do so in this play?

The idea proposed by Joseph Pearce and others is that Shakespeare could not speak openly because he was a Catholic in Protestant England. I think it's an interesting idea and worth exploring. Catholics were subject to fines, imprisonment and even death for their beliefs. Certainly this is historically relevant to Shakespeare, especially given that his mother and father were known to be Catholics.

It goes without saying that any great work of art is open to interpretation. An allegorical interpretation is certainly one valid way of looking at Hamlet. The reason I like the idea of Old Hamlet as Catholic England and Claudius as Protestant England is that it explains so many things in the play. As I mentioned in my article it explains perfectly Act 3 Scene 4 where Hamlet berates his mother.


Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,
And batten on this moor?

And I'm not the only one that thinks so. I just recently came across another author (besides Joseph Pearce) that interprets this scene in just this way. In the book "Shadowplay: the hidden beliefs and coded politics of William Shakespeare" by Clare Asquith, she says "The dark usurper, Claudius, is given the marks of the new Protestant regime." You can read more online here (http://books.google.com/books?id=vW3RCDvpmPMC&pg=PA153&lpg=PA153&dq=the+dark+usurper+Claudius&source=bl&ots=TDJxgHCjRu&sig=hNI_CNZYPV2SOH5Q7syhPPucjPU&hl=en&ei=vnfLTKrvKNP1nAeUuvDlDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=the%20dark%20usurper%20Claudius&f=false).

I realize the idea that Shakespeare was writing as a secret Catholic is a controversial idea, but I think it has merit and is worth discussing rather than just discarding without consideration.

[Virgil]

And I'm not the only one that thinks so. I just recently came across another author (besides Joseph Pearce) that interprets this scene in just this way. In the book "Shadowplay: the hidden beliefs and coded politics of William Shakespeare" by Clare Asquith, she says "The dark usurper, Claudius, is given the marks of the new Protestant regime." You can read more online here (http://books.google.com/books?id=vW3RCDvpmPMC&pg=PA153&lpg=PA153&dq=the+dark+usurper+Claudius&source=bl&ots=TDJxgHCjRu&sig=hNI_CNZYPV2SOH5Q7syhPPucjPU&hl=en&ei=vnfLTKrvKNP1nAeUuvDlDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=the%20dark%20usurper%20Claudius&f=false).

Well, I can't imagine there would be many of you. :wink5:


I realize the idea that Shakespeare was writing as a secret Catholic is a controversial idea, but I think it has merit and is worth discussing rather than just discarding without consideration.
Sure. But you didn't answer my other question. Why would Shakespeare start writing allegorically in Hamlet when he doesn't for any of the other 37 plays? Or do you think he does?

[Michael12]

But you didn't answer my other question. Why would Shakespeare start writing allegorically in Hamlet when he doesn't for any of the other 37 plays? Or do you think he does?

I don't know about the other 37 plays. It's possible that he does. But regardless, I'll be happy to discuss any specific questions you have about what I have written so far regarding Hamlet.

[Jim58]

I think your thesis is going to have to allow for some anti-catholic elements in the play. First, let me mention Stephen Greenblatt’s Hamlet in Purgatory as the source. These ideas do not originate with me. The most glaring anti-catholic irreverence strikes at the heart of the catholic faith and it pertains to Polonius’ “funeral” in Act 4 Scene 2 & 3. Hamlet has unceremoniously lugged the guts to the neighbor room and then compounded him with dust before safely stowing him in or near the lobby by the stairs. As Hamlet describes it, the Eucharistic celebration in the funeral mass doesn’t involve the body of Christ but the body of Polonius eaten by a certain convocation of politic worms. Use of terms like “diet”, “emperor”, and “worms” are clear allusions to Martin Luther and the Diet of Worms. The notion of the consumption of the body by anyone or anything other than the natural forces of nature is abhorrent.

Another is at Ophelia’s funeral where the mere question or hint of suicide by Ophelia is sufficient for her to be rejected by the catholic church. Contrary to your view, I think Laertes' reaction to the churlish priest is indication that the family is catholic. Here, the church essentially abandons them.

At the end of the play while Laertes and Hamlet lay dying they exchange simple forgiveness. Where the spirit of Hamlet's father remains imprisoned by the harsh inflexibility of his religion, Hamlet is sung to his rest by flights of angels. He is then carried to the stage to be resurrected.

[Michael12]

First, let me mention Stephen Greenblatt’s Hamlet in Purgatory as the source.

Hi Jim. I have read bits and pieces of Greenblatt. He seems to at least accept that there is a Catholic element in Hamlet based on the idea that the Ghost is in Purgatory. Luther opposed the sale of indulgences to shorten the length of time a soul spent in Purgatory. Eventually Luther and other Protestants rejected the idea of Purgatory altogether. The Ghost in Purgatory is the first clue of a Catholic element in the play which is in opposition to Protestant ideas.


The most glaring anti-catholic irreverence strikes at the heart of the catholic faith and it pertains to Polonius’ “funeral” in Act 4 Scene 2 & 3. Hamlet has unceremoniously lugged the guts to the neighbor room and then compounded him with dust before safely stowing him in or near the lobby by the stairs. As Hamlet describes it, the Eucharistic celebration in the funeral mass doesn’t involve the body of Christ but the body of Polonius eaten by a certain convocation of politic worms.

I've described Polonius as neither Protestant nor Catholic, but as a Pagan. By Pagan I mean that his philosophy is driven by Greek and Roman ideas, which would include their pantheon of gods. As you point out, Polonius never receives a funeral in Hamlet. For me this is in keeping with his not being a Christian.

HAMLET
Indeed this counsellor is now most still, most secret and most grave,
Who was in life a foolish prating knave.

I think with the words "still, secret and grave" Shakespeare is describing a Stoic. I think Shakespeare had Seneca (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_the_Younger) in mind as a model for Polonius. Seneca was a Stoic and an adviser to Nero. Seneca's tragedies are said to have influenced Shakespeare and others. These words by Hamlet seem to ridicule the Stoic philosophy.


Use of terms like “diet”, “emperor”, and “worms” are clear allusions to Martin Luther and the Diet of Worms.

I agree that there is an allusion to the Diet of Worms. It may be that Shakespeare takes advantage of the word "worms" to cast aspersions on Luther, and perhaps Calvin as well.

I don't have an opinion on this, but it's interesting to think that "your fat king and your lean beggar" could refer to Martin Luther and John Calvin.


Another is at Ophelia’s funeral where the mere question or hint of suicide by Ophelia is sufficient for her to be rejected by the catholic church.

With regards to suicide, both Protestants and Catholics at the time looked upon it as reason to deny a proper burial. In the Pagan tradition however, suicide was acceptable and even honorable. I've already mentioned that I consider Ophelia to represent pre-Christian England.


Contrary to your view, I think Laertes' reaction to the churlish priest is indication that the family is catholic.

Laertes' reaction could be interpreted as a Pagan who does not accept the Christian idea that suicide is wrong. When he jumps into the grave he says:

LAERTES
Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,
Till of this flat a mountain you have made,
To o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head
Of blue Olympus.

In Greek mythology, Mt. Olympus is the home of the gods. And Mt. Pelion is used by some giants to reach Olympus by placing it on top of Mt. Ossa. So it could be interpreted that Laertes is describing taking Ophelia's body to the Pagan heaven, Mt. Olympus, by climbing Mt. Pelion.


At the end of the play while Laertes and Hamlet lay dying they exchange simple forgiveness.

I discuss this in my article (http://publicvigil.blogspot.com/2010/10/hidden-catholic-meaning-of-hamlet.html). The end of the play is the culmination of Hamlet fully accepting the Church's teaching and giving up his desires for revenge. Laertes has an imperfect conversion. His last words are:

LAERTES
Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet:
Mine and my father's death come not upon thee,
Nor thine on me.

Laertes' pagan heart can still not comprehend the full doctrine of Christian forgiveness. He thinks that he can "exchange" forgiveness. While this comes very close to the Christian concept and could be understood from a simplistic interpretation of "forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us", it falls short of the idea that forgiveness comes from God.

Hamlet's reply is:

HAMLET
Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee.

It is a short prayer to God to have mercy on the soul of Laertes. It is reminiscent of the words of Christ on the Cross to the good thief – "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’” Luke 23:43


Where the spirit of Hamlet's father remains imprisoned by the harsh inflexibility of his religion

Rather than being a harsh punishment, Catholics see Purgatory as a blessing. It allows those who have not fully realized the teachings of Christ to be purified and enter into Heaven. The ghost of Old Hamlet's parting words to his son are "Adieu, adieu, adieu! Remember me." In other words, pray for me.


Hamlet is sung to his rest by flights of angels. He is then carried to the stage to be resurrected.

When Horatio says the words "flights of angels sing thee to thy rest" at the moment of Hamlet's death it is as if he is having a vision.

In Branagh's version of Hamlet he is carried off in a way that is suggestive of the crucified Christ. Fortinbras simply says, "Let four captains bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage." More importantly, Fortinbras forgives Hamlet for the sins of his father. Remember that Old Hamlet killed Old Fortinbras.

The theme of revenge is relevant here. It was wrong of Old Hamlet to ask Hamlet to revenge his death. Hamlet does kill Claudius, but only after the treachery of Claudius has resulted in the deaths of his mother and Laertes. Claudius brings his own judgement upon himself. Hamlet is already dying from Claudius' poison at the moment that he kills Claudius. In this way the cycle of violence that began with Old Hamlet killing Old Fortinbras is finally resolved. Remember that it was at the time that Old Hamlet killed Old Fortinbras that Hamlet was born.

HAMLET
How long hast thou been a grave-maker?

First Clown
Of all the days i' the year, I came to't that day
that our last king Hamlet overcame Fortinbras.

HAMLET
How long is that since?

First Clown
Cannot you tell that? every fool can tell that: it
was the very day that young Hamlet was born;

[Jim58]

I apologize, the lack of clarity was my fault. I presented three separate examples where the play presents itself as anti-catholic. At Polonius' funeral Hamlet is making fun of transubstantiation. At Ophelia's funeral Ophelia is being buried in a catholic cemetery and it is officiated by a priest. Ophelia and her family (Polonius and Laertes) are catholic or else they wouldn't be at a catholic cemetery. Nor would Laertes be upset with the churlish priest for failing to give Ophelia her full burial rites. Lastly, as Hamlet lay dying he does not receive Last Rites as the Ghost had claimed he had been denied. Free of catholic stricture Hamlet is sung to his rest. The ghost denied his Last Rites is doomed to walk the night and by day he is confined to fast in fires until his sins are burnt and purged away.

A few more points:

I do not know how you conclude that the couplet at the end of 3.4 establishes Polonius as a stoic. It's emotionless synonymia that helps prepare the audience for the demise of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern the contrast of which ties to the hot-blooded nature of revenge, but I digress. Stoicism: is there any authority?

Ophelia does not commit suicide. Being divided from herself and her fair judgment, she was one incapable of her own distress after accidentally falling in the brook. This is what makes the priest's actions particularly bitter.

Laertes emotional hyperbole in Ophelia's grave calling on classical allusion is not unlike Hamlet's use of classical allusion such as in 1.4 (nemean lion) or in his first soliloquy (Niobe, Hercules). It doesn't make Laertes a pagan. And Laertes isn't expressing a desire to cart Ophelia's body to the Greek gods. He is expressing a desire to be buried with her.

The Ghost's parting words to Hamlet, "Remember me", is not about prayer it's about remembrance; one of the main themes of the play.

[Michael12]

At Polonius' funeral Hamlet is making fun of transubstantiation.
There is no "funeral" for Polonius in the play. Greenblatt says, “the supper where the host does not eat but is eaten is the supper of the Lord”. The problem with that is that Hamlet never uses the word "host", so there is no reference here to the Mass or transubstantiation.

HAMLET
At supper.
KING
At supper! where?
HAMLET
Not where he eats, but where he is eaten

This is just more on the theme of death and the mortality of physical man vs.
the immortality of the soul.

But with regards to transubstantiation, I actually think that the Ghost which appears while Hamlet is speaking to the Queen offers some evidence that Shakespeare supports transubstantiation. Hamlet sees the Ghost, while the Queen sees nothing.

QUEEN
Whereon do you look?
HAMLET
On him, on him! Look you, how pale he glares!
His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones,
Would make them capable.
[...]
HAMLET
Do you see nothing there?
QUEEN
Nothing at all; yet all that is I see.

Catholics see the real presence of Christ - "a ghost" - in the Eucharist, while the Protestants see only a physical symbol; nothing else. Horatio, Hamlet's fellow Catholic, did see the Ghost. Queen Gertrude who has converted to Protestantism does not see the Ghost, even though it is her dead husband.

"His form and cause conjoin'd" sounds very much like the uniting of the real presence of Christ (his cause) and the physical host (his form). "Preaching to stones, would make them capable" sounds like a reference to "if these [Jesus' disciples] shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out." Luke 19:40


At Ophelia's funeral Ophelia is being buried in a catholic cemetery and it is officiated by a priest. Ophelia and her family (Polonius and Laertes) are catholic or else they wouldn't be at a catholic cemetery. Nor would Laertes be upset with the churlish priest for failing to give Ophelia her full burial rites.

Don't get hung up on the word "priest". The Church of England also uses this term for its clergy. So this gives no indication of Protestant vs. Catholic.

Regardless, I'm not saying that Polonius, Laertes and Ophelia should be literally taken as practicing Pagans. I'm saying that Shakespeare uses them symbolically to contrast the Catholic Hamlet and the Protestant Claudius. After the death of Polonius, Ophelia commits suicide and Laertes immediately seeks revenge. This is in contrast to Hamlet who ponders both options, but cannot come to grips with either of them.

The influence of Greek and Roman philosophy is also relevant to the humanist movement which begins with the Renaissance. This influences the thinking of Protestant leaders such as John Calvin who wrote his first book on Seneca's "De Clementia".

(BTW, Catholic is capitalized when it refers to the Roman Catholic Church. Lower case catholic is used as a synonym for universal.)


Lastly, as Hamlet lay dying he does not receive Last Rites as the Ghost had claimed he had been denied. Free of catholic stricture Hamlet is sung to his rest. The ghost denied his Last Rites is doomed to walk the night and by day he is confined to fast in fires until his sins are burnt and purged away.

You ask a good question. I wish I had a good answer. I can however speculate. The last scene which ends in Hamlet's death begins by him observing:

HAMLET
There's a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will

This is an indication that Hamlet has accepted God's will in his life. Horatio acts almost like a confessor as Hamlet confesses that he has harmed Laertes and he repents of it. (This happens before the dialog with Osric.)

HAMLET
But I am very sorry, good Horatio,
That to Laertes I forgot myself

And just before the duel he says:

HAMLET
Since no man of aught he leaves knows
what is't to leave betimes, let be.

Again this is an acceptance of God's will. And it reminds me of Mary's response to the angel Gabriel, "Let it be done to me according to your word." This is referred to as Mary's "fiat", because "fiat" means "let it be done" in Latin.

Hamlet goes into the duel knowing expecting to die. So in the end his is a sort of martyrdom where he sacrifices his life for the good of his countrymen. His last act is to kill Claudius once he has the final proof from Laertes that he is guilty of murder.

A last sacrament is lacking before Hamlet's death, but as a martyr he would be spared from Purgatory. And there is the fact that Hamlet declares that he is prepared to die. In the case of Old Hamlet, he was not prepared and died with his sins on his head.

I realize this is not a completely satisfactory answer since one could still argue that young Hamlet goes to death "unhousel'd, disappointed, unanel'd" just as his father dead, but it's the best I could come up with.

P.S. This reply is already long, so I'll reply to the rest of your comment later.

[Jim58]

We'll have to disagree on the Polonius funeral issue though I would like to see some supporting references if you have them.

The reason Gertrude cannot see the ghost in the closet scene is that she has forgotten her deceased husband. Again, remembrance is one of the main themes in the play. All the characters who see the ghost see it as they remembered King Hamlet as he lived. Bernardo is the first to tell us that, it is the “same figure, like the king that's dead.” Horatio notes the ghost’s armor which was worn by the king in a particular battles. Marcellus questions that it looks like the king.

Later in scene two when Horatio, Marcellus and Bernardo meet Hamlet to tell him of this spirit, Hamlet is envisioning his father in his minds eye. Horatio then recounts in detail how the ghost’s image conforms with his memory of the dead king. Then in the closet scene the ghost appears to Hamlet: “My father, in his habit as he lived.”

More later....

[Michael12]

The reason Gertrude cannot see the ghost in the closet scene is that she has forgotten her deceased husband. Again, remembrance is one of the main themes in the play. All the characters who see the ghost see it as they remembered King Hamlet as he lived.

This is a very physical interpretation to a play that is full of metaphysical concepts. A ghost is a visitor from the spiritual world to the physical world. It's not simply a memory that one calls up in the mind.

Everyone that was in the presence of the Ghost saw it except the Queen. Certainly Gertrude would not have "forgotten" the King in such a short time. It's not a question of simple remembrance, but in a belief that the spirits of the dead accompany us in the physical world.

Catholics believe in the communion of the saints. The saints in this context are more than just the Saints which have been canonized by the Church. It includes the whole community of believers. "The communion of saints is the spiritual solidarity which binds together the faithful on earth, the souls in purgatory, and the saints in heaven." [source (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04171a.htm)]

Hamlet reveals his faith in this concept in his first words to the Queen.

QUEEN
Why seems it so particular with thee?

HAMLET
Seems, madam! nay it is; I know not "seems."
'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
[...]
That can denote me truly: these indeed seem,
For they are actions that a man might play:
But I have that within which passeth show;
These but the trappings and the suits of woe.

His physical expression of grief is more than just a "show". It is an expression of his deepest held faith in an afterworld which he "has within". It is the tension between the "superstitious" faith of Catholics and the materialism of Protestants that Hamlet expresses here and which imbues the whole play. Hamlet insists in a spiritual reality that "is" and does not just "seem" to be.

HAMLET
Nay it is; I know not "seems."

In Act 3 Scene 4, Hamlet begs his mother to open her eyes to this reality. "Have you eyes?" he repeats, echoing the words of Christ "Having eyes, see you not? and having ears, hear you not? neither do you remember." Mark 8:18

The Queen shuts her eyes so that she will not have to look at her own sins – the "black and grained spots" on her "very soul".

QUEEN
O Hamlet, speak no more:
Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul;
And there I see such black and grained spots
As will not leave their tinct.

This is the reason she cannot see the Ghost. It is because she has shut her "spiritual eyes" to the truth which demands her to "Confess yourself to heaven; Repent what's past; avoid what is to come." These are Hamlet's very words to her.

[Jim58]

A ghost is a visitor from the spiritual world to the physical world. It's not simply a memory that one calls up in the mind.

Everyone that was in the presence of the Ghost saw it except the Queen. Certainly Gertrude would not have "forgotten" the King in such a short time. It's not a question of simple remembrance, but in a belief that the spirits of the dead accompany us in the physical world.

The Ghost and Gertrude conform to a world constructed by Shakespeare. This is a play not a documentary. So what Gertrude would have or could have done does not really matter. Hamlet's first soliloquy is pointedly about Hamlet recounting from personal memory what Gertrude has forgotten concluding: "a beast that wants discourse of reason would have mourned longer."

And making up ghost properties so that it fits your analysis begs the question. The Ghost is seen as he is remembered. Shakespeare goes into detail in the dialogue that the image that is seen by each character is generated from memory. That dialogue is in the play for a reason. In Gertrude's closet, Hamlet is trying to stir his mother's memory. "My father, in his habit as he lived."




Hamlet reveals his faith in this concept in his first words to the Queen.
...
His physical expression of grief is more than just a "show". It is an expression of his deepest held faith in an afterworld which he "has within". It is the tension between the "superstitious" faith of Catholics and the materialism of Protestants that Hamlet expresses here and which imbues the whole play. Hamlet insists in a spiritual reality that "is" and does not just "seem" to be.

You assume much that isn't in the text. Hamlet's "seems" speech is a play off of Gertrude's use of "seems" with regard to Hamlet's show of grief. It has nothing to do with beliefs. She thinks he is acting. He says he is sincere. Again, Hamlet is drawing the contrast that he continues to remember his father while Gertrude does not.


In Act 3 Scene 4, Hamlet begs his mother to open her eyes to this reality. "Have you eyes?" he repeats, echoing the words of Christ "Having eyes, see you not? and having ears, hear you not? neither do you remember." Mark 8:18

The Queen shuts her eyes so that she will not have to look at her own sins – the "black and grained spots" on her "very soul".

QUEEN
O Hamlet, speak no more:
Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul;
And there I see such black and grained spots
As will not leave their tinct.

This is the reason she cannot see the Ghost. It is because she has shut her "spiritual eyes" to the truth which demands her to "Confess yourself to heaven; Repent what's past; avoid what is to come." These are Hamlet's very words to her.

Sounds to me like Gertrude is Catholic or at least Hamlet thinks so.

[Michael12]

@Jim58 - Thanks for your comments, but we just seem to be talking past each other from totally different perspectives. So I'm sorry to say that I don't have any desire to continue this dialog. Still, I hope that others will read these comments and are able to get something valuable out of them.

[Gladys]

I lived a couple of years in England where I visited many a historical house, with copious commentary on the Protestant/Catholic divide of Shakespeare's time and earlier. If the play Hamlet is a religious allergy as suggested by Michael, Shakespeare's contemporaries would be much more attuned to such religious allusions than we are today.

Shakespeare was born within a decade of the death of Bloody Mary, the Catholic Queen. It it really conceivable that he would have risked the wrath of the Protestant establishment under Elizabeth I, Mary's successor, by portraying the Anglican State Church and its head - God's anointed on earth - as an adulterous, murdering monster?

King Claudius - the Church of England!

[tomt]

It it really conceivable that he would have risked the wrath of the Protestant establishment under Elizabeth I, Mary's successor, by portraying the Anglican State Church and its head - God's anointed on earth - as an adulterous, murdering monster?

King Claudius - the Church of England!

Well, yes. Especially if he was recusant and faithful as is suspected by some historians.

[tomt]

Very interesting take on Hamlet. I'm also very intrigued by the idea that Catholicism influenced, dare I say shaped :yikes:, Shakespearean drama. Greenblatt's suggestion and Pearce's contention come with some very convincing evidence that the Bard used his plays as venues to express his recusant faith in the face of significant Tudor persecution of Catholics (Mary I's persecution of Protestants not withstanding).

I'm pretty psyched about your interpretations of Hamlet, Claudius and Gertrude (as well as Ghost). Seems to me like you might be on to something and I'd be interested to read more on it if you have any suggestions other than those you've mentioned previously in the thread (I've already them - except for the female author - I'll have to look her up). I've recently felt there might be a stronger Catholic connection to the play than what has been interpreted, but I've struggled to put my finger on it.

As far as the paganism implied by Polonius, Ophelia and Laertes, it seems like the loose connections do your theory more harm than good. Your ideas about Polonius and transubtantiation seem to have a little traction but Laertes and Ophelia, as far I'm concerned, are just pawns in the power struggle created by Claudius's treachery. Many people in Tudor England were caught in the same trap when faced with treason by pledging allegiance to Rome or England, depending on which Tudor held the throne.

It's also worth noting, I think, that Shakespeare was born in 1564 and only wrote (beginning roughly 1588) during the reigns of Elizabeth I (1558 - 1603) and James I (1603 - ?), both converts to English Protestantism from Catholicism. Neither was very committed to the ideals of Luther's Reformation and kept their Church very close to the practice of Catholicism without the influences of Rome and the papists. Furthermore, James was a Stuart not a Tudor and his political aspirations in England and Scotland necessitated his conversion (as well as his convictions, I'm sure). In other words, it was politically expedient for him to recant his mother's faith and maintain England's independence from Rome in order to bolster his power in what would become the United Kingdom of England and Scotland. However, it's also worth noting that Shakespeare was arguably a papist, and there was definitely no love lost between Elizabeth and the pope, who believed she was a bastard child born to Catherine of Aragon's usurper, Anne Boleyn. Hamlet was written and first performed during her reign so Shakespeare could very well have been playing with fire.

You seem to be catching a bit of flack in the thread. Don't let it discourage you. The influence of the Church sometimes frightens people and, in their defense, they naturally attempt to reject Her doctrine and philosophy because of the authoritative tenor with which it is proclaimed. A Catholic Shakespeare is not the end of the world. In fact, if he loved the Church as much as his plays suggest he did (in my opinion, anyway), we may learn more tolerance from him than we expected to.