How Is Hamlet A Christian

”Thus conscience does not 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 pith and moment,/ With this regard, their currents turn away,/ And lose the name of action.” Hamlet here combines some themes of this play: death and life, the connection between thought and action. In act five scene five, he goes into Claudius’ room to kill him. Like the last time he went to kill him, he was on his knees praying. Why send him to Heaven when he should go to Hell? His father wasn’t given a chance to repent his sins before he was murdered, so why should King Claudius? Hamlet thinks about this for a minute, and decides to wait for a more reasonable

Hamlet kills Polonius and Gertrude becomes scared as to what is going to happen with Hamlet. Claudius betrays her trust by taking advantage of it and takes matter into his own hands. Claudius solution to the problem is to have Hamlet sent to England, where he is going to be safe from the law and will not have to deal with any consequences for his actions. " O Gertrude, come away! The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch. But we will ship him hence, and this vile deed. We must, with all out majesty and skill, Both countenance and excuse" (4.1.28-32). Claudius makes Gertrude believe he is setting this up because he wants to protect Hamlet. But even though the audience knows the real reason as to why he is doing this. He is sending Hamlet to England to be killed. " By letters congruing to that effect, The present death of Hamlet" (4.3.66-67).

Hamlet doesn’t think it would be just to kill Claudius now because it would be basically sending him “to heaven” which Hamlet does not want. He wants to take what he perceives as the nobler path of catching Claudius in sin and send him to eternal damnation, where Hamlet’s father supposedly roams. To what seems like noble justice to Hamlet leads him to continuously postpone his revenge. Hamlet is not interested in making himself king, rather he is more interested in killing Claudius the, truthfully, unchristian way. Hamlet does not want Claudius to repent and absolve of his sins. Although Hamlet calls Claudius a “villain”, it makes the reader ponder if the executioner of the villain is always the “hero”. So far in the play, Hamlet does not show any characteristics of a traditional hero as he broods and shows temper tantrums. Using his false sense of righteousness, Hamlet waits for the right chance to exact his noble “revenge”.

According to the bible, if you repent of your sins you will be forgiven and go to heaven when you die, Hamlet believes this and that is why he does not kill Claudius in this scene. Another reason he does not kill his Claudius based on the reason above, he will not give Claudius the glory of

Hamlet believes that when people do evil things they are sent to hell. A person that lived a righteous life they go to Heaven. This thought may had put fear into Hamlet. Evelynoconner states that “yet despite being suicidal, he does not kill himself because he fears divine retribution (that he’ll burn in hell forever)." Hamlet hated his life and the current situation he was in that he thought about ending his own life but was too scared about what would happen to him in the afterlife. In the book he says “To grunt and sweat under a weary life, but that the dread of something after death”. (Hamlet. Act 3 Scene 1. Lines 85-86). So if the thought of his religion made him hesitate to end his own life what would make it any different to end Claudius’s? In the end Hamlet realized after he was sent to England that he had no choice anymore. Claudius sent him there to be killed. That’s when Hamlet realized that it was either him or Claudius. Hamlets religion had a big role in why he delayed killing

        It may appear that anything could be twisted into a typological pattern. Such interpretations appear to suffer from the structuralist faults of skating too lightly over actual texts, ignoring details that cannot be forced into a preconceived mold, and robbing narratives of their concrete shapes through abstraction. I would stress that there is more to Shakespeare than typology, but I would also insist that typology is often an important part of his drama. To make this claim plausible, however, requires more detailed attention to the text of his plays. In what follows, I will call attention to the textual and dramatic details that justify a typological reading of

Throughout the play, he clearly analyzes every plan to kill Claudius. During this analysis, not once is he concerned with what will happen to him for murdering Claudius. He considers what would happen to Claudius for killing him during prayer. He considers what will happen to Claudius for killing his father, but not once does he worry that he could get punished because his vengeance will make him a murderer too. The only instance Hamlet worries about the afterlife is during

Hamlet’s determination and addiction for revenge is confirmed when he is willing to sacrifice his entrance to heaven by separating from his values and beliefs. Initially, Hamlet wishes “that this too too sullied flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!” He is contemplating suicide as a result of his father’s death and his mother’s haste in remarrying to his father’s brother, Claudius. However, Hamlet brushes off this idea as an option by saying, “Or that the Everlasting had not fixed his canon ‘gainst self-slaughter! Oh, God, God” This portrays the religious beliefs of Hamlet at the time. He wishes suicide was not a sin. However, since it is, he cannot commit it. Similarly, Hamlet also shows his beliefs and values when the Ghost shares his story and then commands Hamlet to avenge his death.

Opposite of King Hamlet, his brother, Claudius, will lead Gertrude to hell due to his crimes, and her loyalty to him. Hamlet also believes that Getrude deserves to go to hell along with Claudius. He yells at her : “A murderer and a villain,/ A slave that is not twentieth part of the tithe/ Of your precedent lord, a vice of kings,” ( 3.4, 97-99). Hamlet truly believes that his mother will follow hell, until his father appears and guides him to lead Gertrude to heaven. It may have not worked, because at the end, when everyone dies including Gertrude, her loyalty is questioned again. When Claudius and Laertes try to poison Hamlet, Gertrude tries to drink to poisoned cup, and Claudius warns her not too but she responds: “ I will, my lord; I pray you pardon me.” ( 5.2, 268). Hse may have known that the drink was poisoned and didn’t want to battle her loyalty anymore and join King Hamlet, but suicide is a sin since she is still killing herself. Later, when Hamlet kills Claudius, Hamlet informs him: “Follow my mother”. (5.2, 306). It is clear that Claudius goes to hell, so why would he follow his mother? This may answer the question of where Gertrude loyalty lies, and if she goes to heaven or hell, but there is evidence for both sides.

Even with this proof, Hamlet will not kill Claudius during prayer because he believes his decision will matter and he must choose wisely. In the graveyard, Hamlet saw people's skulls and wondered what the courier's compliments or the jester's tricks had brought them but another spot in the earth. Hamlet saw the acts of well respected men not protect them from the grave and anonymity when he said, "This fellow might be in's time a great buyer of land, with his statutes his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his recoveries: is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries, to have his fine pate full of fine dirt? will his vouchers vouch him no more of his purchases, and double ones too, than the length and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his lands will hardly lie in this box; and must the inheritor himself have no more" ( V. i. 98-103). Hamlet's inaction appeared in his relationship with Ophelia. He admitted at her grave that he loved her but he did not attempt to have more than a physical relationship. Hamlet's fear of action led to other problems.

• This scene of dramatic irony showcases Hamlet`s hatred for Claudius. He does not kill Claudius when he is praying because he doesn’t want him to go to heaven. Hamlet wants to wait until Claudius commits a sin to kill him, so that he will go to hell.

Hamlet lets his religion somewhat get in the way when he gets his first chance to kill Claudius. “A villain kills my father, and for that I, his sole son, do this villain send to heaven,” (III. iii. 76- 79). Here is when hamlet decides to wait because Claudius is kneeled down praying. He did not want to kill him because his soul would go to heaven because he has just repented. “When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, or in th’ incestuous pleasure of his bed, at game a- swearing, or about some act that has no relish of salvation in’t- then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven, and that his soul may be as damn’d and black as hell, whereto it goes” (III. iii. 89- 92). Hamlet wanted to get Claudius good a sinful like he did his father. He wanted him to go to hell. Here is when you see a different side of hamlet that may seem a bit devious, but when he changes his mind he seems to go back to his original character.

Once Hamlet is sure of Claudius’ guilt, it is Hamlet’s belief in his religion that leads him to inaction. In Hamlet’s mind, it is now his rightful duty to avenge his father’s murder. At the end of Act 3 Scene 3, Hamlet has a perfect opportunity to kill Claudius, when he sees the King kneeling in prayer. Hamlet enters the King's private chapel with a sword in hand, ready to kill Claudius. As Hamlet enters he observes, "now he is a-praying, and now I’ll do 't"(3.3.77-78). But, Claudius is agonizing over his actions. He has committed

Here, Hamlet shows despite his need to revenge for his father, he is held back from his constant thought of his actions as well as his moral considerations. It’s been clearly stated that Hamlet has a strong sense of heaven and hell; that he won’t kill his uncle while praying, because he thinks he might go to heaven. Hamlet himself doesn’t want to kill his uncle without being assured that he is guilty. This is why, by the end of the play, Claudius' death is something we applaud, regretting only that he was not killed sooner. The reason of this delay is because of Hamlets’ moral triumph. His morality often keeps him from acting; it makes him mull around in his uncertainty and anxiety, instead of just acting and bringing his struggle to an end.

The more Hamlet thinks, the more prone he is to doubt. The thoughts of death continuously consume Hamlet's mind. Unable to bring himself to kill Claudius, Hamlet questions his bravery, “Am I a coward?” (2.2.598). He cannot find a reason inside him for not taking action, leading Hamlet to question his morality: “To be or not to be” (3.1.64). Although he asks such a profound question, it is impressive that he does not give a direct answer. His mind is so full of the reasons to live and to die that