GENERAL INFORMATION: Ten Commandments in Hamlet (Series)

GENERAL INFORMATION: Ten Commandments in Hamlet (Series) [1]

Much attention has been given to iconoclasm (destruction of sacred or allegedly idolatrous images) in England during the reformation, but less to how such images and artifacts were effectively replaced by royal injunctions of Elizabeth I in 1561 requiring the Ten Commandments (Decalogue) to be posted on the eastern wall of every church [2].

Statues, carvings, wall paintings, and stained glass had once shown angels, demons, scenes from biblical stories and the lives of saints, appealing to collective memory and to the imagination. In iconoclastic acts of erasure, these were replaced by the Decalogue, appealing more to the logical mind, the superego, the rule of law, and fear of punishment. 

Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, not only demonstrates the violation of all of these, but also may refer to the sometimes resented replacement of icons with commandment boards. 

Commandments were posted for all the faithful to see, but like most of Shakespeare’s other tragedies, Hamlet focuses almost exclusively on how the royal family and court violates them, and not on the sins of “commoners” (like Romeo & Juliet).

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (Decalogue) [3]:

1. "Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods But Me." 
2. "Thou Shalt Not Make To Thyself Any Graven Image." 
3. "Thou Shalt Not Take The Name Of The Lord Thy God In Vain." 
4. "Remember To Keep Holy The Sabbath Day."
5. "Honor Thy Father And Thy Mother."
6. "Thou Shalt Do No Murder." 
7. "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery." 
8. "Thou Shalt Not Steal."
9. "Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness Against Thy Neighbor." 
10. "Thou Shalt Not Covet."

Can you think of some of the ways that each of these were violated in Hamlet?


NOTES: 
[1] SERIES INDEX: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2026/07/series-index-ten-commandments-in-hamlet.html

[2] This order of Elizabeth I was reaffirmed in the Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical of the Church of England in 1604.

[3] English churches followed the Protestant numbering, which split the worship of God alone and the prohibition of graven images into two commandments: It was important that the prohibition of idols should be highlighted as its own commandment among the ten. To make the numbers fit, Protestants therefore combined the Catholic numbering of the last two commandments, making these one 10th commandment prohibiting the coveting of a neighbor’s spouse or property. 


IMAGES: 
TOP: Commandment boards from Aldingbourne in West Sussex, England, from the early 19th century. Image fair use via https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKMoEPLVwMveYbFoA-xlQZoj-dsX7dNZNpaCzOc4e4vLPWlaVo_O7d-_M5sUu2cuQqHJsaQVPlbIvcHawP6iEbMh_GM0stXDQW1HqRpfY78GsDOgGsttSrDSLYr0McPSimEPPJmwo6mG0/s1600/Aldingbourne.JPG via the Sussex Churches Blog: https://sussexchurchez.blogspot.com/2013/07/commandment-boards.html

SECOND FROM TOP: 
Dating from 1561, the commandment board in the Lady’s Chapel of St Laurence's, a Church in Ludlow, Shropshire, England, is one of the oldest in England. Image fair use via https://www.ludlowpalmers.uk/images/commandments-board.jpg via Ludlow Palmers at https://www.ludlowpalmers.uk/commandments-board.html 

BOTTOM LEFT: 
The decalogue board at St Mary's Church, North Mymms, within the grounds of North Mymms Park near Hatfield, Hertfordshire, perhaps from the 18th century. Image via the North Mymms History Project, released under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzJC43r4kilSZSGUrylt9nhowESHwjWqd8c1g9FbzaUS9Naxf7HILltaH31XOp11FJk7QLUpOFqFmtHP5x5a1jtyMptLzEZp6FvuTT8PVQljMvBMZVPcKcZVjbjvOcMceWn6Ct-AxHI0c6/s1600/dlb1.jpg

BOTTOM MIDDLE: 
Ten Commandments Window of the Parish Church of St. Lawrence, Ludlow, Shropshire, England. This window may be 575 years old, as the church was built between 1433 and 1471. Image fair use via https://i0.wp.com/stlaurences.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Ten-Commandments-Window-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1432&ssl=1 via https://stlaurences.org.uk/wonders-and-treasures/ 

BOTTOM RIGHT: 
Decalogue Board of The Church of St Cecilia in West Bilney, King's Lynn, West Norfolk, UK, 
apparently dating from the 1700s. Image via Creative Commons Licence © Copyright Evelyn Simak, via https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1743664 


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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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