Claudius as Unrepentant Roman Catholicism (Claudius series, Part 22)

Claudius represents an unrepentant Roman Catholicism. This is not the only meaning of Hamlet’s uncle with the Roman name, but it would have been fairly obvious to audiences in Shakespeare’s lifetime. Claudius is murderous, incestuous, usurping, and unrepentant. His name points to two Roman emperors, and in the final act, Claudius conspires to poison a chalice of wine for his nephew in what scholars often describe as a "black mass" [1]. Shakespeare re-wrote this story during the English Reformation, when reformers like John Knox and Thomas Cranmer were associating the Catholic Mass with poison [2]. It’s very possible that Shakespeare was critical of various aspects of Roman Catholic leadership, in spite of oft-observed Catholic sympathies [3]. All of the sins of Claudius were, in Shakespeare’s time, strongly associated with Roman Catholicism: - Murderous: English Catholics plotted to assassinate Elizabeth [4]. - Incestuous: Roman authorities gave special permission (dispensa...