Part 39: Ophelia, Gertrude, Hamlet: three damned souls as saved Christ-figures
Shakespeare hints that Ophelia, Gertrude, and Hamlet—apparently damned for different reasons—are not only saved, but in fact are Christ-figures [1].
The texts support such a reading. Yet even if Shakespeare uses religion mostly for dramatic (not religious) purposes [2], it is safe to say that a majority of scholars today might reject this idea, or at least be quite disinterested in it.
Ophelia is apparently damned as a suicide [3], but Gertrude blames her death in part on an “envious sliver” of willow [4], envious — like Claudius — that it didn’t get a crown. Ophelia was generous in bestowing crowns (coronets) [5], like Christian scriptures which claim that all people can be adopted sons and daughters of God, and can inherit a heavenly crown [6].
Gertrude is apparently damned for her “incestuous marriage” to her dead husband’s brother [7], scandalous and forbidden, especially after the divorce of Henry VIII from his first wife on similar grounds. Yet there are strong hints late in the play that she feels guilty [8], and suspects poison in the last scene, inserting herself between Claudius and the poison cup intended for Hamlet [9] so as to test the cup for poison and perhaps save her son by her sacrifice, making her not only repentant but also a Christ-figure.
Hamlet is apparently damned because he makes it his job to kill a king, something strongly forbidden by the English Church in Shakespeare’s lifetime [10], which taught—based on various scripture passages—that subjects were obligated to obey their monarch, even if the monarch was a tyrant, as God may use tyrants to chastise people for sin. Hamlet moves from being motivated largely by personal revenge, to something that may transcend that: A wish to keep a murderous usurper, Claudius, from causing more evil [11].
But the eternal fate of these apparently damned souls is definitely ambiguous, as we are mysteries to one another. Perhaps in that way, Shakespeare makes it clear that the judgements of God are mysteries we cannot presume to pluck—so it is better in this light that we be merciful in our judgments of one another.
Many scholars would prefer to imagine Shakespeare as an atheist or agnostic who conformed to religious expectations of his time only to practice his dramatic craft. This may be true—yet this often leads to missing or neglecting rich interactions of biblical and religious allusions in the play.
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NOTES: All references to Hamlet are to the Folger Shakespeare Library online version: https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/hamlet/entire-play/
[1] In my March 29, 2004 post this past week, I began to explore the idea that all three figures, Ophelia, Gertrude, and Hamlet, are Christ figures of sorts (though not without certain ambiguities for each), based in part on the idea from the Elizabethan Book of Common Prayer that all baptized Christians are called to become more like images of Christ: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/03/christ-figures-in-hamlet-ophelia.html
[2] He uses religious themes for mostly dramatic, but also political and moral purposes (and not didactically religious ones). “Shakespeare is not treating us to an imaginative presentation of theology. He is testing theology with his imagination and using theology for his artistic purpose.” (105) Robert G. Hunter, Shakespeare and the Mystery of God’s Judgments. (1976)
[3] “Is she to be buried in Christian burial, / when she willfully seeks her own salvation?” 5.1.1-2. See also 5.1.3-26, and 5.1.225-228: “Who is this they follow? / And with such maimèd rites? This doth betoken / The corse they follow did with desp’rate hand / Fordo its own life.”
[4] 4.7.198. See also my previous blog post: Part 34: Why Gertrude personifies the envious sliver of willow (Interlude D.1) - March 06, 2024:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/03/part-34-interlude-d1-why-gertrude.html
[5] 4.7.197.
[6] See “The Five Crowns”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_crowns
1599 Geneva trans.:
- James 1:12 (1599 Geneva): Blessed is the man, that endureth tentation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
- Revelation 2:10 (Geneva) “...be thou faithful unto the death, and I will give thee the crown of life.”
- 1 Corinthians 9:25 “And every man that proveth masteries, abstaineth from all things: and they do it to obtain a corruptible crown: but we for an incorruptible.”
- 2 Timothy 4:8: “For henceforth is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love that his appearing.”
- 1 Peter 5:4: “And when that chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive an incorruptible crown of glory.”
- 1 Thessalonians 2:19: “For what is our hope or joy, or crown of rejoicing? are not even you it in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?”
- Philippians 4:1: “Therefore, my brethren, beloved and longed for, my joy and my crown, so continue in the Lord, ye beloved.”
[7] “She married. O, most wicked speed, to post / With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!” (1.2.62).
See also “Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast.” (1.5.49);
“Let not the royal bed of Denmark be / A couch for luxury and damnèd incest.” (1.5.89-90).
“Or in th’ incestuous pleasure of his bed,” (3.3.95).
“Here, thou incestuous, murd’rous, damnèd Dane,” (5.2.356).
[8] “To my sick soul (as sin’s true nature is), / Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss./ So full of artless jealousy is guilt, / It spills itself in fearing to be spilt.” 4.5.22-25.
[9] “The Queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet. (She lifts the cup.)
HAMLET Good madam.
KING Gertrude, do not drink.
QUEEN I will, my lord; I pray you pardon me. (She drinks.) (5.2.315-318)
[10] See two of the official Elizabethan homilies: The first is called “An exhortation to obedience,” Homily X from the first book of homilies:
https://ia801309.us.archive.org/24/items/exhortationconce00chur/exhortationconce00chur.pdf
The second is called “"An homily against disobedience and wilful rebellion," Homily XXI, from the second book of homilies:
https://archive.org/stream/homilyagainstdis00chur/homilyagainstdis00chur_djvu.txt
[11] “...And is ’t not to be damned / To let this canker of our nature come / In further evil?” (5.2.77-80).
IMAGES
Ophelia (1890): by Henrietta Rae (1859–1928) (flipped, L-R)
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, England. Public domain via
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Henrietta_Rae_-_Ophelia_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
Hamlet (John Philip Kemble as Hamlet, 1801), by Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830).
Tate Britain. Public domain via
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Thomas_Lawrence_-_John_Philip_Kemble_as_Hamlet_%281801%29.jpg
Gertrude (1792): Hamlet: Act IV, Scene V (Ophelia Before the King and Queen), by Benjamin West (1738–1820). Cincinnati Art Museum. Public domain via https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Hamlet%2C_Act_IV%2C_Scene_V_%28ophelia_Before_The_King_And_Queen%29%2C_Benjamin_West%2C_1792.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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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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