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- Title
"Great Command O'Ersways the Order": Purgatory, Revenge, and Maimed Rites in Hamlet.
- Authors
Beauregard, David
- Abstract
Certain elements in Hamlet, together with historical and biographical events, suggest that Shakespeare's play can be better understood from a Catholic perspective. The representation of the Ghost from Purgatory contains obviously Catholic imagery and allusions. The notion of revenge or vengeance, understood in terms of a proper intention in appropriate circumstances, is considered a virtue in Thomistic theology rather than a vice, a notion applicable to the play particularly when the opposing vices of being excessive and being remiss in punishing (cruelty and negligence) are taken into account. And, finally, the Erastian measures taken by Claudius, whose "great command o'ersways the order" of Ophelia's funeral, deforms a traditional Catholic liturgy in producing "maimed rites."
- Subjects
SHAKESPEARE, William, 1564-1616; HAMLET (Play : Shakespeare); CATHOLIC Church; PURGATORY; CATHOLICS
- Publication
Religion & the Arts, 2007, Vol 11, Issue 1, p45
- ISSN
1079-9265
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1163/156852907X172421