ACT V SCENE I

There’s this whole Christian-burial issue going on within this chapter that makes me think that Shakespeare is targeting the practices of the (Christian/Protestant/Anglican?) Church at the time. The gravedigger starts us off with the discussion by questioning in the very beginning, “Is [Ophelia] to be buried in Christian burial, when she willfully seeks her own salvation? … How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own defense?” (1-2, 6-7)

To commit suicide is considered a sin in Christianity. Although I’m not entirely sure of the reasoning behind that concept in Hamlet’s time, I think it’s supposed to be because the suicide victim (well, technically he who commits suicide is both the killer AND the victim) takes away the life that God granted them. In a way, he’s also playing god by deciding his own fate and cutting it short. There’s a lot more detail where that came from but I’m generalizing in order to avoid straying too far from our main source, Hamlet.

So what does Shakespeare think of this? It’s hard for me to tell. But I’m going to go out on a limb and say that he best expresses his own personal opinions through the discussion between Laertes and the Doctor of Divinity.

“Doctor of Divinity: She should be ground unsanctified been lodged
Till the last trumpet. [Instead of] charitable prayers
Shards, flints, and pebbles should be thrown on her.
Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants,
Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home
Of bell and burial.” (236-242)

“Laertes: Lay her i’ th’ earth,
And from her fair and unpolluted flesh
May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,
A minist’ring angel shall my sister be
When thou liest howling.” (248-252)

This reminds me of the conversation between Laertes and Ophelia in Act I Scene iii, when Ophelia asks her brother not to judge her like some “ungracious pastors” would (51). It’s ironic that it actually does happen, and endearing that her brother instantly comes to her defense. As for Shakespeare’s message, its as if he’s saying through Laertes that the people who condemn are more likely to end up “howling” in hell rather than those who commit suicide. Shakespeare seems to judge people as a whole. Yes, Ophelia did end her own life, but compared to the “churlish priest”, she was an angel. Taking her whole character into account, in the opinion of Laertes and perhaps Shakespeare, Ophelia is pure, and the fact that she died the way she did shouldn’t change that.

I don’t particularly agree or disagree, since, although I am Christian, I’ve never really explored this topic before. Would a person who commits suicide descend into hell? I can’t say for sure. There’s different interpretations amongst all kinds of people, but who’s to say for sure what happens after we die? Like Hamlet said in his famous “To be or not to be” speech, the afterlife “puzzles the [human] will” (Act III scene i, 88).

There are many myths & religions that ponder over the subject. One myth that sticks to my mind is one of a mangaka (Japanese cartoonist’s). I feel a bit silly for mentioning this when I’m talking about English literature… but basically,  this mangaka, Arina Tanemura, has a series called Full Moon wo Sagashite. In the series, she imagines how the world of the dead works, introducing characters such as death gods, called shinigami, whose main job is to escort people into the afterlife (kind of like the Grim Reaper). She muses that while most people would simply dwell in the afterlife (she doesn’t go into much detail about what they do there), people who specifically committed suicide become shinigami. At first, the reader is led on to think that this is punishment for suicide victims, as they aren’t allowed to cross over and lead, I suppose, peaceful afterlives. Later, it is revealed that instead, the position of shinigami was made in order to give the said suicide victims a second chance, to appreciate life on earth, as well as to, perhaps, prevent others from committing suicide as well, as they have certain powers that allow them to alter certain situations.

It’s sickening to see that some people are even opposed to poor Opehlia having a Christian burial. I mean, if not a proper “Christian burial”, then what other options would be left for her? Judging by how the gravemaker keeps digging up skull after skull in such a nonchalant manner, maybe she would instead have been just wrapped up in a sack and thrown into a hole with a pile of corpses. Wow… how sad. Even if it wasn’t the case, it’s still implied that a Christian burial is only reserved for the higher ranks and the considered-to-be virtuous, and that a more lower-rank, disrespectful burial awaits those who fall short of such qualifications.

Hamlet spends a lot of this chapter lamenting the concept of death. How a person could go from something, to utterly nothing upon death. Makes life seem rather pointless, and yet here he is, driven by ambition and vengeance to kill his uncle, who killed his father, when at some point or another they will all die anyways.

P.S. RIP to Brittany Murphy, who died earlier today :( .

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