Part 4: Ophelia wronged by monarch, inquest, and priest

As the tale of Ophelia’s drowning is distorted in Hamlet, the funeral procession reaches the graveyard where the “churlish priest” claims that either Gertrude or Claudius had pressured the coroner’s inquest not to rule suicide. The priest is offended at the thought of burying a possible suicide on holy ground, and does only minimal rites required.

This implies a dysfunctional Denmark, king, inquest, and priest, and implies a similarly dysfunctional England.

1. “GREAT COMMAND O’ERSWAYS THE ORDER” [1]: The priest claims either Gertrude or Claudius overruled the coroner’s inquest. Ideally, an impartial inquest should seek the truth. If it's a mystery (not enough evidence) it be better to reserve judgment, than to harshly judge a soul on whom God might be quite inclined to show mercy. For some reason the coroner's inquest was inclined to rule it a suicide (why?). Gertrude or Claudius made them change that, perhaps in compassion for Ophelia, or fearful of angering Laertes, or both.

2. FOLLOW THE MONEY: David Bevington notes: In Elizabethan times, when a death was ruled suicide, the deceased’s family estate went to the crown.[2] This gave too much incentive for inquests to enrich the throne by ruling suicide, leaving grieving families impoverished. Inquests thereby might neglect the mystery and truth surrounding deaths in order to seek royal favor.

Shakespeare couldn’t say this in a play without attracting trouble. But by portraying a coroner’s inquest inclined to rule suicide in a questionable death, requiring a monarch’s intervention, he drew attention to it.

It is true that some historians may look at the historical record and conclude that judgments seemed to be fair, and not to favor suicide. But the historical record is not in the play, nor can we assume a modern sense of that record directed the playwright's decisions. But this doesn't remove the temptation to favor the purse of the crown in some situations, even if they were infrequent. Any single incident of an inquest favoring the crown without conclusive evidence might inspire a playwright to portray the inquest's initial leanings toward ruling suicide.

3. WHY AN INDIGNANT PRIEST?
The doctor/priest resents a king having undue influence on what should be impartial deliberation — and its effects on how he must conduct the ritual.

Were there priests or ministers in England who resented undue influence of the crown in matters relating to religious rituals like funerals or otherwise?

As others have noted [3], English Protestant burial ceremonies were briefer than Catholic tradition: Catholics may have resented the role Protestant monarchs played as head of the English Church, mandating simpler rituals, neglecting traditions.

But Puritans also resented a Protestant monarch who, in their minds, did not go far enough to reform Catholic rituals.

WHY IS THE PRIEST SO JUDGMENTAL about the mystery of Ophelia’s drowning, caring little for comforting Laertes?

He seems to have forgotten certain scripture teachings:
- comfort the mourning (Is 61:3; Rom 12:15-16)
- judge not that you be not judged (Matt 7:1-5)
- fear the Lord (Ps 34:9; Prov 3:7; 9:10; 1 Sam 12:24)
- don’t assume you can “pluck the heart” of mystery (Is 55:8-9)
- A favorite verse of Shakespeare’s: Matt 7:1-2, read at Morning Prayer on January 9, May 9, and September 6:
1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged,
and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you again.
(If we judge Ophelia harshly, we should expect to be judged as harshly.)
- “Whatever you would that [people] should do unto you, even so do unto them,” one of the prayers after communion every Sunday (see BCP, ed. Booty, page 251).

Three times a year at Evening Prayer on 22 January, 21 May, and 19 September, people could regularly hear 1 Cor 4 read in church. Especially note verses 5, 13:
5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who will lighten things that are hid in darkness, and make the counsels of the hearts manifest: and then shall every man have praise of God. [...]
13 We are evil spoken of, and we pray: we are made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things, unto this time.

Perhaps 1 Cor 4:13 anticipates that Ophelia will be “made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things, unto this time.”

Were any priests, ministers, or religious people in Shakespeare’s lifetime as judgmental as the "churlish priest"?

Pamphlet wars and documents of the time show that some Protestants, Catholics, and Puritans were like that, sure that others outside of their group were hell-bound.  

Shakespeare uses the play to hold up a mirror to the England of his time. 


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NOTES

[1] 5.1.235. All references to Hamlet are to the Folger Shakespeare Library online version: https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/hamlet/entire-play/

[2] As noted in previous blog posts, in David Bevington's book Murder Most Foul: Hamlet Through the Ages, Bevington includes the following parenthetical observation regarding suicides:

(Coroners in Shakespeare's day were instructed to issue of suicide in such dubious cases, partly because swimming was regarded as reckless self-endangerment and thus virtually a suicidal act, but more importantly because the estate of the deceased would then go to the crown.) (60)

See previous blog post on this topic:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2020/08/coroners-suicide-inquest-as-crowners.html

[3] Stephen Greenblatt (among others), Hamlet in Purgatory, p.285.


IMAGES:
Left and right: Detail, “Ophelia,” John Everett Millais, circa 1851. Elizabeth Siddal (sitter). Tate Britain. Public domain via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:John_Everett_Millais_-_Ophelia_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg


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INDEX OF OPHELIA POSTS:
My 2023 series on Ophelia, and earlier Ophelia posts:

https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/10/index-of-ophelia-posts-2023-series-and.html
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YOU CAN SUPPORT ME on a one-time "tip" basis on Ko-Fi:
https://ko-fi.com/pauladrianfried

IF YOU WOULD PREFER to support me on a REGULAR basis,
you may do so on Ko-Fi, or here on Patreon:
https://patreon.com/PaulAdrianFried
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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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