Religious Allusions In Hamlet

Throughout the play, Hamlet by William Shakespeare, many secular ideas such as murder and revenge make up the main plot of the play. However, through the biblical allusions and references to religion, it is evident that the characters in the play are religious beings. To inquire further what the religious elements in the play add to its meaning, I decided to trace the words that relate to the fundamental beliefs of Christianity. The basic three is to love, to forgive and to honor god, so I chose the words god, love and forgiveness. I expected the uses of these words to be few because the play in general does not advocate Christian characteristics. As I tracked these words throughout the play, I noticed that the same words were used in different contexts many times. (This only applied to the words “god” and “love” since forgiveness only had one meaning in the play). Thus, I had to make a
It appears for the first time in Act 3 Scene 3 as Claudius prays to God to forgive him of his sins. Ironically, his prayer was insincere and Claudius confesses that his “words fly up, [and] thoughts remain below; words without thoughts never to heaven go” (3.4.100-101). Next, the word “forgiveness” is used in the last words of Laertes. He confesses his wicked intentions and asks Hamlet to forgive his plot to murder Hamlet. However, if Laertes was never slain, it is doubtful that he would still ask for forgiveness. Rather, it would be more probable that he would celebrate Hamlet’s death and his own success in avenging Polonius’ death. Thus , there are no signs of genuine forgiveness in the whole play. This is a contradiction because forgiveness is the most important element in the Christian belief because it is one of God’s prominent characteristics. Thus, Shakespeare portrays the loss of the most important Christian characteristics by showing the character's’ unwillingness to forgive and taking revenge