Christopher Devlin's Catholic Bias in Hamlet's Divinity (part 13)
Hamlet’s Divinity and Other Essays (Christopher Devlin, 1963) contains two chapters relating to Hamlet as well as a chapter making a case for Shakespeare’s Catholicism. Devlin was a Jesuit priest, and while I was raised Roman Catholic, I find him to be a bit too certain about plucking the heart of the mystery of Shakespeare’s faith. Yet Devlin demonstrates a great knowledge of history and literature, and in a field where for too long Protestants advanced too many of their own assumptions about Shakespeare’s faith, Catholic voices like Devlin’s opposing the status quo played a helpful role. [Image: Author photo. Hamlet's Divinity and Other Essays by Christopher Devlin (d.1961), with an introduction by C.V. Wedgwood. Published 1963. This book is out of print but still available at libraries and in used copies.] In his title chapter, “ Hamlet ’s Divinity” (30-43), Devlin argues that there are various ways he finds divinity to be present in the play. A major element for him is ...