To Interpret Hamlet from a Religious Perspective

Abstract: In the west and even all over the world， Shakespeare’s tragedies have exerted great impact. In Hamlet， Shakespeare demonstrated the rational power of human and revealed Hamlet’s limitation and tragic situation， which was highly consistent with Protestantism’s understanding of man’s nature. We know that the Christian culture has played an important role in western culture， which based on the analysis of his tragedies. This paper will analyze Hamlet to illustrate the influence of Christianity.

Key words: Christian; soul; original sin

Ⅰ. The influence of Christian on Western literature

We should not be ignored the impact of Christianity on western literature as the Western Literature developed from the Christian culture. As a cultural phenomenon， religion embodies a particular mentality and a specific way of thinking. Christian tells us harmony， mutual love and tolerance， which gives the spirit a place of refuse and provides the advice that to balance people’s psychological activity. It shows a complex relationship between religion and literature， which integrate infiltration and conflict.

The impact of the Christian mainly showed on writers’ world outlook. A certain kind of religious belief accumulated down as a collective unconsciousness after its formed original belief， which reflected in individuals and affected individuals. In the West many writers are devout Christians who believe the existence of God. Therefore， Christianity comes into being great influence on the creative writer.

Ⅱ.The influence of Christianity in Shakespeare’s tragedy----Hamlet

For the definition of tragedy， Aristotle said: “the tragedy is an imitation of a complete and has certain length of action in the time of the sun move one circle” [1]. Aristotle set forth the basic pattern of tragedy figures: “There is also a person between the two who is not known as a virtue; he has suffered such things not because of his evil action but mistakes; the person is prominent with high social status， such as Oedipus” [1]. Aristotle laid a relatively correct theoretical basis on Western art realism and had a profound impact on more than two thousand years later. Under the influence of Christianity， Shakespeare emphasized individual， the importance of judgment what men’s words and deeds， the individual responsibility and the value to God. [2]

ⅰ. The role of “soul” in Hamlet

From the beginning of the story， the Ghost--the King’s soul declared the content: the old King was poisoned by his brother who was later usurped the throne and marred the Queen. The whole country was immersed in a festival welcome a new king， who will uphold justice for the degenerated soul? Who will make adjudication to this behavior that violated social order? Who will tell the truth? The author chose the “soul”， which has strong Christian cultural characteristic.

The soul has a special significance in Christian theology， which combined with God in order to detach body and sublime. The material and physical are imperfect， if we pursuit happiness and wisdom， we must make the flesh escape from the earth. As an intermediary between God and human， the soul make our behavior consistent with God’s intention， which solved the problem of people could not directly speak to God and their behaviors abided by the God. God is the embodiment of “the truth， good and beauty” and the soul acts according to the God’s guidelines. Therefore， the old Hamlet’s order is irresistible， which set the theme of this opera is “punish the evil and praise the good”.

ⅱ. The role of “original sin” in Hamlet

Reading Hamlet， the word printed on our mind is tragedy. Tragedy derived from the hard life for original sin which is mentioned by the Bible. Bible is the soul of Christianity and the basis of understanding western civilization. Original sin is from the human’s self-understanding， awareness and the ability to distinguish evil from good， which is a crime that violates God. Thus， humanity must survive by their strength and no longer to live a care-free life in heaven or the Garden of Eden.

For Hamlet， father was an ideal image who loved with the Queen. However， the Queen immediately married with his uncle after the sudden death of the King， which he could not accept this fact and felt disgrace for his mother’s behavior. Like a broken beautiful crystal ball， the ideal life is a thing of the past， he must face this embarrassing situation—no choice but to accept a tragedy and suffering life.

Hamlet， whose character in Shakespeare exhibits the strongest impressions of religion， who feels these impressions even to a degree of superstition， which influence his conduct in the most important exigencies [3]. Hamlet thought a mission and knew the truth from father’s ghost and the fate of arrangements. He is not only to revenge， but make the world full of humanism， which is a setback， test， and his destiny [4]. He thought but hesitated as he didn’t find the best time. When readers read here can feel the same uneasy， the same worries and hesitation， which gives the spirit an invisible pressure. Hamlet is a man of “action is better than thinking”. We can make an evaluation of Hamlet tragedy spirit: the division of thinking and will， the split of the desire and practice， the split of the ideal and reality.

Conclusion:

The structure of the script clearly illustrates the conflicts and actions， which hate， hatred repeated. Shakespeare used the parallel structure to arrange three characters: Fortinbras， Laertes and Hamlet to face the fact that their fathers were killed， in which they had to revenge--it is an inescapable mission. For the same mission， three different men with different personalities， different world outlooks and situations make different results. Different from the others， Hamlet filled with blood revenge and father’s soul told him the truth. Although completed his mission， he was always suffered by revenge. Hamlet’s well-known hesitation and the performance are contrast to his firm will. Revenge leads to tragedy inevitably. From this analysis we clearly see that the Christian culture has played an important role in western culture， such as “soul”， “original sin”， “humanism”， “individualism”， which should not be ignored to study the western literature.

Notes:

[1] 亞里斯多德，《詩(shī)學(xué)》，北京:人民文學(xué)出版社，1978，第19頁(yè)。

[2] Helen Gardner著，《宗教與文學(xué)》， 沈弘，江先春譯，成都:四川人民出版社，1987，第76頁(yè)。

[3] Tytler， A.F. Essay on the Principles of Translation. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press， 2007，p.210.

[4] 朱生豪譯，《莎士比亞全集》，南京:譯林出版社，2001，第660頁(yè)。