Catholicism and Hamlet's delay

[ashnagesh]

I had always thought that part (perhaps a small part) of Hamlet's delay was his fear of Hell/Purgatory... he had been schooled as a Protestant, but with the ghost he saw proof of Catholicism; thus, he was afraid of going to Hell, should he commit murder in killing Claudius. However, why is it then that he eventually does kill Claudius, when he knows that he himself is about to die? Does this suggest that he doubts the honesty of the ghost throughout ("It is a damned ghost that we have seen" III.2), perhaps as a result of his Protestant beliefs?

[Chester]

But isn't Hell also a part of the Protestant faith?

[ashnagesh]

ah ok let me re-explain... in seeing the ghost return from purgatory it should have confirmed the truth of the catholic faith; however, he questions this in act iii when he says 'who would fardels bear..... makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of', which shows a fear of death in the sense of a fear of the unknown? does he then doubt the ghost, and keep his protestant faith... and as such, only find the ability to avenge his father when he knows he is dying anyway?

[Chester]

Okay, I see. Interesting question. I hadn't considered his religious faith as a factor. But either way, what are we to make out of his killing of Polonius, who he thought was Claudius? Some have argued that this was done in a hasty enough way to discredit the generally-accepted idea that he was reluctant to act.

[ashnagesh]

I suppose, but i've always been sceptical about that; I think when he kills Polonius, he knows it's not Claudius... given that he's just left the King praying in the Chapel, it would be impossible for him to have gotten there in time. Wishful thinking?

[Chester]

Hmm...maybe. But then who did he think it was behind the curtain? And if he knew it was Polonius, what would have been his motivation to kill him?

[Gladys]

he had been schooled as a Protestant

Hamlet seems set well before the Protestant Reformation. Since Shakespeare king's agree with known history, Claudius is way back. In Hamlet, England's a tributary state to Denmark, a time centuries before Shakespeare. So, long ago, Wittenburg had the seeds of Protestantism.

Hamlet kills Claudius in the heat of the moment?

Earlier, by killing Polonius in the heat of the moment, Hamlet would not have endeared himself to his friends, the two children of Polonius. It follows, he intended to kill Claudius.

[ashnagesh]

The Protestant Reformation, really, began in the 1300's with Wycliffe; Luther nailed his theses onto the door of Castle Church, Wittenberg, in 1517, and Hamlet was written about 1601... so, it would follow that Hamlet had been educated as a Protestant... hence the traditional reading that he symbolises Protestant England, whilst King Hamlet's ghost represents the "ghost" of Catholicism.
He may not have intended to kill Polonius, and yes he may have tried to convince himself that Claudius was behind the curtain (with wishful thinking...or the radical subjectivity that Hamlet has spoken about before), but he must have known within himself that it wasn't Claudius, as he had just left Claudius praying in the Chapel. I do not think that Laertes and Ophelia (neither of whom he is particularly friendly with at this point anyway, what with Laertes being in Paris, and Hamlet having continually berated Ophelia) were at the forefront of his mind in this scene, especially with the previous drama with his mother. He doesn't kill Claudius in the heat of the moment, true, he wanted to, but after five acts of deliberation, why is it that he can only get around to killing Claudius when he himself is dying? (Some have suggested that he avenges his own death, rather than his father's...?)

[Gladys]

Or does Hamlet avenge his mother's death...in the heat of the moment?

[ashnagesh]

Maybe... why then is he so deliberative about avenging his father's death, yet so impulsive when it comes to his mother's?

[jaymrobinson]

I think the ghost can also be seen as Satan, in that it tempts Hamlet into committing sin. The ghost serves to set off the whole series of tragic events from the start of the play.

[Gladys]

why then is he so deliberative about avenging his father's death, yet so impulsive when it comes to his mother's?

Impulsive for the same reason as when he kills Polonius. Deliberative only when there's time to think.

I think the ghost can also be seen as Satan

Are Satan and Old Hamlet of the same evil mind?

[jaymrobinson]

Are Satan and Old Hamlet of the same evil mind?

I think it certainly can be interpreted that way. Not necessarily Satan as evil persay, but Satan as a metaphysical being or force who tempts us to sin. And the ghost was also a metaphysical being urging Hamlet to commit murder, a sin.

[Lioness_Heart]

Is there any evidence to suggest that Shakespeare intended Hamlet to be a Protestant? I don't remember any specific mention of his faith (except that he is a Christian).

Also, it is important to bear in mind the time in which Shakespeare lived: in Tudor England, religion changed pretty much with every new monarch. And under Elizabeth, it would have been dangerous to be thought a Catholic sympathiser; in quite a few of his plays, Shakespeare portrays the Catholic church as a negative prescence.

In terms of procrastination, I think religion did play a part - Hamlet trying to justify his actions to himself etc, and the clash of murder being wrong against Claudius's violation of the Divine Right of Kings - but is there evidence in the text of this being related to a specific branch of Christianity? True, purgatory is a Catholic belief, but was that not a necessary theme to introduce merely to allow the ghost to be in the play?

[Beewulf]

ah ok let me re-explain... in seeing the ghost return from purgatory it should have confirmed the truth of the catholic faith; however, he questions this in act iii when he says 'who would fardels bear..... makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of', which shows a fear of death in the sense of a fear of the unknown? does he then doubt the ghost, and keep his protestant faith... and as such, only find the ability to avenge his father when he knows he is dying anyway?

You're right that Protestants denied the existence of purgatory, but I would be cautious about equating the presence of a ghost from purgatory as a specific endorsement of Catholicism. Shakespeare, like other Renaissance playwrights, used ghosts as dramatic devices without systematically considering their theological significance.

As you point out, the fact that Hamlet has conversed with his father's ghost makes his questions about the afterlife a little hard to follow. Do his questions mean that Hamlet has doubts about whether the ghost is truly the soul of his purgatory-bound father? Perhaps. Both Horatio and Hamlet say that the ghost could be an evil spirit meant to damn him. Do these questions also mean that Hamlet denies the reality of the ghost on theological grounds that represent an endorsement of Protestantism? I don't think there is evidence in the text to support that conclusion. You've certainly raised an interesting idea, but without compelling textual evidence, I don't see how it could be argued convincingly.