Spirituality in Shakespeares Hamlet Essay - 2389 Words

Can anyone possibly deny the spirituality within the Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet? Yes, some literary critics do. But most critics agree with the contention of this paper – that there is considerable spirituality present in the play. In his essay â€Å"Hamlet: His Own Falstaff,† Harold Goddard sees that Hamlet was made for â€Å"religion† and several other purposes: He [Hamlet] was made, that is, for religion and philosophy, for love and art, for liberty to â€Å"grow unto himself† – five forces that are the elemental enemies of Force. And this man is called upon to kill. It is almost as if Jesus had been asked to play the role of Napoleon (as the temptation in the wilderness suggests that in some sense he was). If Jesus had been,†¦show more content†¦(40) In his Introduction to Modern Critical Interpretations: Hamlet, Harold Bloom finds the Bible in this drama: Horatio, then, represents by way of our positive association with him; it is a commonplace, but not less true for that, to say that Hamlet represents by negation. I think this negation is Biblical in origin, which is why it seems so Freudian to us, because Freudian negation is Biblical and not Hegelian, as it were. Hamlet is Biblical rather than Homeric or Sophoclean. Like the Hebrew hero confronting Yahweh, Hamlet needs to be everything in himself yet knows the sense in which he is nothing in himself. (5) The first soliloquy, or â€Å"act of talking to oneself, whether silently or aloud† (Abrams 289), occurs when the hero is left alone after the royal social gathering in the room of state in the castle of Elsinore. He is dejected by the â€Å"o’erhasty marriage† of his mother to his uncle less than two months after the funeral of Hamlet’s father (Gordon 128). His first soliloquy emphasizes two religious/moral themes: the corruption of the world at large, and the frailty of women – an obvious reference to his mother’s hasty and incestuous marriage to her husband’s brother: O, that this tooShow MoreRelatedEssay about Hidden Spirituality in Shakespeares Hamlet2169 Words   |  9 Pagesthe author of this essay, the obvious presence of considerable spirituality within the Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet. The purpose of this paper is to identify and elaborate on selected spiritual elements in the play. Not all critics appreciate the spirituality in Hamlet. A.C. 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