The Case for a Catholic Hamlet: Shakespeare’s Use of Catholic Themes

William Shakespeare lived, worshipped, and wrote his famous plays during a time with a great deal of religious turbulence, especially between Catholic and Protestant Christians. Many of his famous plays reflect this tumultuous atmosphere, often presenting the audience with the views of several different religious persuasions. Though some literary scholars argue that Hamlet overwhelmingly presents a more Protestant perspective, themes of purgatory, essence versus accidental qualities, and repentance found within the play point towards a profoundly Catholic influence in this famous work by William Shakespeare.

William Shakespeare’s personal religious beliefs are still being highly debated by literary scholars even in the present day. The playwright’s public persona presented a man with a real sense of dedication to the Church of England. This, however, was a necessity in Shakespeare’s time and place, and not necessarily a good indication of his private thoughts about spiritual matters. The government in Shakespeare’s day heavily persecuted anyone who did not belong to the Church of England. Beyond even that, members of this government-sanctioned institution could be punished for simply not being dedicated enough to the Church. In fact, “The law required regular attendance at the state church,. . .so one could be cited for failing to attend” (Cox 343). Because the records of these citations still exist to this day, scholars are able to comb through these records and find out who was cited for not attending the government’s Church. As scholar John D. Cox explains, ”Shakespeare was never cited, but this does not prove he was a Protestant: he could have been a Catholic or an unbeliever who attended the Protestant state church because the law required him to” (Cox 343). While there may not be a certain consensus on Shakespeare’s personal spiritual beliefs, the more interesting question pertains to how he presented religion in his plays. Though many religions (including Judaism, Islam, Protestantism, and Catholicism) are featured in many of William Shakespeare’s famous works of theatre, evidence from his play Hamlet points strongly towards underlying Catholic themes and influence. This matters, because any apparent support of the Catholic Church could have led to disaster for Shakespeare; fines, public humiliation, career ruin, prison, and even death were not off the table. The choice of William Shakespeare to risk such fates in order to include some of the more overt Catholic ideas in Hamlet suggests that he felt these elements were important. Therefore, Shakespeare fans can benefit from identifying these details and understanding their role within Shakespeare’s work.

As one begins to examine Hamlet for Catholic ideas, the first and most obvious detail that emerges is the very Catholic view of the afterlife Shakespeare includes in the play. Specifically, he references the Catholic belief in purgatory. In Act 1, Scene 5, Hamlet’s deceased father visits him in the form of a ghostly apparition in the night. The unfortunate dead man says he is “for the day confined to fast in fires / Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature / Are burnt and purged away” (16-18). Here, the late King Hamlet is speaking about his soul being forced to reside in a spiritual space for the purpose of purging his lifetime of sins away before the next stage of its existence. This concept is known by Catholic believers as purgatory. Purgatory is a very important, foundational concept within the religion of Catholicism. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire” (CCC 1031). Though this is a very important concept for Catholics (and indeed was so also during Shakespeare’s time), purgatory was not a belief accepted by the distinctly Protestant Church of England. In fact, the Church of England not only heavily criticized this type of thought, they outright banned it and persecuted those who publicly supported it. The Church’s stance on purgatory stated it was “vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God” (qtd. in Clegg 174). Considering the official view of the Church of England at the time during which Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, it seems clear that Shakespeare chose to stretch the bounds of what he could get away with and choose a more Catholic view of the afterlife for his play. Shakespeare could have chosen to simply have Hamlet’s father visit him as a ghost. He did not need to explicitly mention or even allude to purgatory, and yet Shakespeare chose to include this detail, even despite its clear reference to a very much outlawed Catholic belief. The fact that Shakespeare went out of his way to reference a distinctly Catholic doctrine during a time in which this was a risky action shows just how strong of a Catholic influence is present in Hamlet.

Beyond just the overt mention of the Catholic view of the afterlife, other, more subtle Catholic ideas can be found within Hamlet. For instance, one important concept in Catholicism is the idea that what something actually is can be separate from what it may seem to be. This Catholic concept is sometimes described as the essence of something versus its accidental qualities. Shakespeare’s Hamlet also seems to value this very Catholic idea, as he too remarks on being versus seeming to be. For instance, in Act 1, Scene 2, Hamlet’s mother asks him, “Why seems it so particular with thee?” (78). Hamlet coldly answers, “‘Seems,’ madam? Nay, it is. I know not ‘seems’” (1.2.79). Here, Hamlet shows that he is not interested in how things may seem. He wants to rely on the truth. As explained by one literary scholar, “We shall observe Hamlet’s attempts to uphold throughout Act 1 the hopeful, Catholic idea of being. . .With his idealistic conception of the relationship between being and seeming, Hamlet fights against the cold, hard tide of Protestant logic” (Curran 52). Hamlet wants to think of things in a Catholic way. How things might seem at first glance can prove to often be unimportant and downright irrelevant. Instead of focusing on this, Hamlet believes that one should dig into things and find the real truth. He does this throughout the play as he attempts (or rather thinks about attempting) to avenge his father’s murder. In Act 3, Scene 2, Hamlet follows through with his plan to find out the truth about his father’s death by having some traveling performers reenact the supposed murder in front of his suspect: his uncle, Claudius. When Claudius reacts strongly with deep emotions in response to this play, Hamlet has the evidence he feels he needs (3.2.291-321). In this situation, Hamlet is interested in going beyond the “seems.” He does not take the ghost at his word right away, nor does he allow his seemingly innocent uncle to get away with his actions. When he has the play performed, he tests both his father and his uncle in that moment as he sees who is telling the truth. In this scene, Hamlet is echoing the Catholic beliefs on truth, adding to the evidence concerning the Catholic themes and ideas in Hamlet.

Another piece of evidence for the Catholic influence in Hamlet is King Claudius’ prayer in Act 3, Scene 3. Claudius attempts to pray about his crime, but, to his dismay and disappointment, finds himself unable to truly repent for all the things he has done. Claudius does not believe he will be forgiven in exchange for simply asking for it; rather, he recognizes that there are other steps he must take if he wants true forgiveness from God. Unable to take the repentant actions he knows would be required of him should he wish to take the road of forgiveness, Claudius ponders, “May one be pardoned and retain th’ offense?” (3.3.60). Claudius thinks about the nature of forgiveness and whether a person can truly be forgiven if they fully intend to continue committing the sin and reaping the benefits from doing so. He knows he will have to change his behavior if he wishes to demonstrate true repentance, but he does not feel that he can do this. Claudius has enjoyed the prizes of his crimes far too much to do that. This idea has clear ties to Catholic ideology. More clearly, “Everything in his speech is recognizably biblical in its expression and soundly theological in its thought. He well knows that the prayers of repentance alone will be of no help to him, unless he also has what is technically termed ‘a firm purpose of amendment’. . .echoing a central meditation in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius” (Batson 8). A firm purpose of amendment is a Catholic idea meaning that a confessing sinner must have a firm and true desire to amend or change their sinning actions before they are actually forgiven. According to Pope John Paul II, “From this standpoint one can clearly see how confession must be humble complete, accompanied by a firm, generous purpose of amendment for the future and lastly by the trust that this same amendment will be achieved” (“Confession Must Be”). For Claudius, this means he will have to firmly decide to give up the spoils of his sin in order to complete his confession and repentance to God, an action he seems to not be able to take. In this moment, Claudius and his prayer demonstrate another Catholic idea in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

Despite the evidence for a very Catholic Hamlet, some literary scholars still advocate for a decidedly more Protestant view of the play overall. For instance, Dr. Rajiv Thind writes, “I argue that the purgatorial Ghost can also be read as a caricature. Comedic and parodic depictions of Roman Catholic doctrine and beliefs were fairly common in the popular writings of Shakespeare’s age” (69). Here, Dr. Thind argues for a less serious approach to the mention of purgatory in Hamlet. He makes the case that Shakespeare included this aspect of Catholicism as a type of joke for his overwhelmingly protestant audience. Though, of course, it is impossible to know exactly how Shakespeare meant for his play’s original audience to interpret his mention of purgatory, clues from the play suggest a more serious approach. The most pertinent clue pointing towards the ghost being a serious plot device in the play as opposed to a simply comedic one is that the ghost proves to be an honest force for the play’s story. Hamlet’s ghostly father does not come on stage for the sake of jokes and banter; rather, he comes with a serious and ultimately truthful account of murder. He tells Hamlet the story of his murder at the hands of his brother, Claudius, saying, “Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother’s hand / Of life, of crown, of queen at once dispatched, / Cut off, even in the blossoms of my sin” (1.5.81-83). When Hamlet later has a group of actors act out this scene in his uncle’s presence, King Claudius reacts strongly, ultimately proving his own guilt (3.2.291-321). He also confesses to his crimes himself in the next scene (3.3). Though Shakespeare was certainly no stranger to fitting comedic elements into his tragedies, with everything else the ghost says proving to be true, it does not make much sense for the ghost to lie about one specific thing, especially something as serious as a soul suffering torment. This piece of evidence provides clear pushback to Dr. Thind’s idea of Shakespeare’s more lighthearted, comedic approach to Hamlet’s ghostly father.

William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet during a time when Catholic thought was not encouraged. Despite the heavy consequences surrounding public support of Catholic themes and ideas, Shakespeare still chose to infuse Hamlet with several Catholic concepts; namely, purgatory, essence versus accidental qualities, and repentance. Though some counterarguments exist in the world of literary scholars, evidence from the play points clearly towards a very Catholic influence on William Shakespeare’s Hamlet.