Christian Allegory And Allusions In Shakespeare's Hamlet

Since the 17th century, William Shakespeare has been regarded as the greatest playwright of all time. Shakespeare is often referred to as the greatest or most influential person in his field, as Michael Jordan is to basketball or Albert Einstein is to science. One of the greatest plays he ever wrote was Hamlet. In William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Shakespeare uses a wide array of Christian allegories and allusions to create a memorable plot. While these allegories occur frequently, they do not play a major role in the development of the story. Allegories are prominent in almost all great literature. Christian allegories, like the Garden of Eden, the serpent, the crucifixion, and heaven and hell, are popular in all great Christian works, and Hamlet is no exception. These allusions appear in books and …show more content…
This is first presented by the ghost of Old Hamlet when he initially talked to Hamlet. When talking about his death, he said, “Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard, a serpent stung me” (1.5.42-43). This quotation is a direct allusion to the Garden of Eden. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were living happily, just as Old Hamlet was relaxing peacefully in the Garden. In Genesis, the serpent approached Eve and offered her a piece of forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Eve ate the fruit and shared some with Adam, and as a result they were both cast out from the Garden. In Hamlet, a serpent approached Old Hamlet while he was sleeping and bit him. Old Hamlet died from this, which is representative of Adam and Eve being cast out from the Garden of Eden. These two scenes parallel nicely. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit, sin entered the world, and they were banished from the Garden, consequently changing their entire lives. When Old Hamlet died, everything started to go wrong for the people of Denmark, and their entire lives changed as