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The Allegorical Analysis of Shakespeare´s Hamlet Essay

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During the life of William Shakespeare, the Roman Catholic Church was still going through a difficult time of change in England because of an act about thirty years prior due to King Henry VIII. King Henry VIII pleaded to the pope for an annulment because he believed with a new wife he would be able to produce a son since he had not been successful with his current wife. The pope denied his annulment and King Henry VIII was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. He decided to create his own religion called the Church of England. The English people rapidly converted to follow his faith because the remaining Roman Catholics were being persecuted. Shakespeare's parents were Catholic and Shakespeare himself was believed to be Roman…show more content…
Gertrude, Polontius, and Laetres are easily seen to be the converts who quickly followed the Church of England. Horatio is symbolically the apostles because at the end of the play he was left to tell Fortinbras what had happened. Throughout the play sin is greatly exposed through multiple characters from Orphelia committing the sin of pride, to Gertrude committing the sin of adultery, to more obvious sin of murder. The final act of the play with the fencing scene with the death of many represents Judgment Day. With all these sins the final act of the play makes more sense because Hamlet, Jesus, followed his father's plan so he is the only one to receive praise from Fortinbras and enter into heaven while for the other it is unclear if they entered into heaven or not. Though some may read Shakespeare and only see what is written, others are able to understand his true ingenious mind when they read it for his his allegorical meaning. Hamlet to many is one of Shakespeare's most tragic and gruesome plays with the death toll so high, but it is a very religious play with a deeper allegorical meaning. Hamlet is a play about crazy adulterous revenge or rather a play about remaining faithful to the Roman Catholic Church in a time of chaos. A new appreciation for Shakespeare has been inspired due to the "new eyes" his plays are now read
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