How Hamlet toyed with Elizabethan expectations: Incestuous marriage, adultery, right succession

If Londoners in Shakespeare’s England heard that his play, Hamlet, was in part about the incestuous marriage of a king, what did they expect?

Elizabeth was still queen when it was first performed, and still remembered long after James took the throne. Some thought she was only legitimate if her father, Henry VIII, had been right to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, over claims that the marriage violated biblical laws.[1]

There had been a popular earlier play, A Looking Glass for London, about a king saved from an incestuous marriage by an act of God (lightning bolt). The king heeds a prophet sent by God and repents. Happy ending.

Such a play could affirm Protestant Elizabethan hopes, that yes, biblically incestuous marriage is wrong, and Henry VIII was right to divorce Catherine, although the pope disagreed. And yes, he was right to break with Rome to get his divorce. Therefore, his second marriage was legitimate, Elizabeth was legitimate, and all was right with the world. Audience members could feel smug, satisfied.

But Shakespeare’s Hamlet was a very different play. For one thing, king Claudius murdered his brother to marry the queen and take the throne.

Did the play hint that audiences might wonder if Henry VIII had murdered his brother?
Or draw attention to how Elizabeth had ordered the execution of her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots?

Henry VIII had broken with Rome, but the ghost in Hamlet (who condemns the incestuous marriage of Gertrude, to his murderer and brother, Claudius) is not Protestant: He is Catholic, and from Purgatory, which Catholics believed in, but Protestants did not. Yikes!

Did the Catholic references references hint that audiences might doubt whether Henry was right to break with Rome?

Or that a Catholic ghost must be a demon in disguise?

In Hamlet, the murderer, Claudius, marries Gertrude so that he can insert himself into the line of succession before the prince.

Do wrongful successions result in illegitimate monarchs?

Did the play hint that a recent English succession may have been unfair?
Of Edward, youngest descendant of Henry, before his oldest sister, Mary?

Biblical rules allowing marriage to a brother’s widow only applied in cases where the first marriage produced no children. But Gertrude already had a son, Hamlet. So for Claudius to commit adultery with her, and later marry her, was wrong by many standards.

Did the play’s adultery theme draw attention to Henry’s many extramarital affairs (such as with Anne Boleyn)?

Did it imply that since Henry’s first wife had no children by her first husband, Henry was actually right to marry her? Wrong to divorce her?

Many observe: the play raises more questions than it answers.
Instead of affirming audience expectations for a play about the biblically “incestuous” marriage of a king, Hamlet may have disturbed them.

Perhaps audiences had come to expect as much from Shakespeare?

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NOTES: [1] see my previous post about the two main biblical laws related to Henry VIII's marriage to his first wife, his brother's widow, and his justification for seeking a divorce:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/06/the-bible-henry-viii-claudius-and.html

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POSTS IN THIS SERIES ON THE BIBLICALLY "INCESTUOUS" MARRIAGE OF CLAUDIUS AND GERTRUDE,
AND THE ALLEGEDLY INCESTUOUS MARRIAGE OF HENRY VIII TO HIS FIRS WIFE:

1. Hamlet and the Incestuous Marriages of Claudius and Henry VIII - via John Erskine Hankins - 28 June, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/06/hamlet-and-incestuous-marriages-of.html

2. "Incestuous" marriages of Henry VIII and Claudius: two relevant biblical passages - 30 June, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/06/the-bible-henry-viii-claudius-and.html

3. How Hamlet toyed with Elizabethan expectations: Incestuous marriage, adultery, right succession - 5 July, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/07/how-hamlet-toyed-with-elizabethan.html

4. Three challenges to teaching about incestuous marriage in Hamlet - 7 July, 2023
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/07/three-challenges-to-teaching-about.html

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Disclaimer: If and when I quote or paraphrase bible passages or mention religion in many of my blog posts, I do not intend to promote any religion over another, nor am I attempting to promote religious belief in general; only to explore how the Bible and religion influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
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Thanks for reading!
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My current project is a book tentatively titled Hamlet’s Bible, about biblical allusions and plot echoes in Hamlet.

Below is a link to a list of some of my top posts (“greatest hits”), including a description of my book project (last item on the list):

https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/12/top-20-hamlet-bible-posts.html

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