Shakespeare and His Religion

This is reflected in Horatio's scholarly concern that the ghost "bodes some strange eruption to our state." (I.i.69) Because of this confusion, not knowing whether Old Hamlet's ghost was "a spirit of health or goblin damn"d," (I.iv.40) the Elizabethan audience would have supported Hamlet in his choice to be sure before killing Claudius, his father's murderer. This shows how Shakespeare uses the audience's uncertainty to manipulate their response to the play. .
             Shakespeare also uses conflicting culture to control the audience's reactions. Hamlet is set in Denmark, but written for an English audience. According to the Danish tradition of the blood feud, the King's murder requires vengeance, and filial duty dictates that Hamlet "was born to set it right." (I.v.189) However, to the Christian audience, murder for any reason violated the highest Christian ethic -- love. This includes love for one's enemies. Therefore the blood feud conflicted with the audience's Christian views. By comparing Danish culture with Christian morals, Shakespeare again persuades the Elizabethan audience to have a certain reaction to the play (Milward 98-99). Hamlet's knowledge of Christianity is shown when he does not take the opportunity to kill Claudius while in the church. Hamlet does not want Claudius to go to Heaven, so he waits until his soul is in greater jeopardy. When Hamlet kills Polonius, mistaking him for Claudius, he thinks Claudius is being incestuous and will therefore go to Hell. Likewise, when Hamlet kills Claudius in the midst of a murder plot, his desire is to send him to eternal damnation and avenge his father's death. This knowledge of Christianity is not typical for a Dane. In other words, Hamlet is basically an English play set in a foreign land. This contradiction serves to appeal to the intended audience, the Elizabethans. .
             Thus by examining Hamlet's odd Christian education, the use of cultural conflict, and the way this plays on the Elizabethans" own religious upheaval one can see how Shakespeare's knowledge of religion was useful in writing Hamlet.