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 General Outline

The subject of this paper is concerned with what is widely regarded as


Shakespeare’s masterpiece, namely The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Being
not only his most widely read, but also the most produced of his plays, one might feel
overwhelmed by the complexity of this tragedy and by the wealth of the commentaries
related to it. Therefore, since the task of discussing about every feature of Hamlet is too
laborious, I will only focus on two particularities. First, I will focus on the religious
tension that is felt throught the story between the worldview and thought of Catholics and
Protestants. Secondly, I will touch upon the subject of melancholy – as it was understood
in Shakespeare’s time.

 The Religious Tension

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark was written in or about the year 1600.
The 16th century was a period marked by religious reform (or in some cases revolt) in
Continental Europe, as well as in England and Scotland. Although Martin Luther was the
initiator of the Continental Reformation, the tradition with which Shakespeare was
familiar – that is, Anglicanism – had been established by King Henry VIII. In its infancy,
the Anglican Church could and has been described as Catholicism without the Pope.
Nevertheless, under the influence of Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the
Anglican Church drew near to the Continental Reformed Church, which had leaders as
John Calvin, Martin Bucer (who later became a professor of theology at the University of
Cambridge) and Peter Martyr Vermigli (who took an influential post at the University of
Oxford). This tradition was accepted by Queen Elizabeth I, the Fidei Defesonor during
the time of the writing of Hamlet.

 Purgatory

One issue related to the tension that is felt throught the tragedy is the existence of
purgatory. This Catholic dogma was defined in the 13th century at the Second Council of
Lyon as the place where baptised Catholics went to be purified if they had died with
unconfessed venial sins.

In Hamlet, the ghost of Hamlet’s father describies the place whence he came as a
place where his soul is purified, aligning the worlview of the tragedy with the Catholic
dogma. Hamlet and Horatio, both being highly educated, are sceptical about this
appereance. But this can only be explained by looking at the place in which they had
been educated, namely Wittenberg. Although the University of Wittenberg is
anachronistically placed in the times of Hamlet, the value that it has is symbolical,
because of the event which took place there: the beginning of the Reformation – the
nailing of the 95 Theses to the Castel Church. Wittenberg will later become one of the
headquarters of the Reformation. Therefore, in placing Hamlet’s and Horatio’s education
in Wittenberg, Shakespeare points to the Protestant worldview of the two. After shifting
from this position, Hamlet says to Horatio:

„There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,


Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

This philosophy is clearly an allusion to the Protestant rejection of purgatory.

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