Saturday, December 7, 2019
he hath borne our griefs
In "Messiah" there is a movement called "Surely He Hath Borne Our Griefs", it is about that fact Jesus is supposed to take away our sins and making atonement for us. This idea of divine atonement for wrong seems to be at play when talking about Gertrude. Hamlet is ordered to let her own guilt be her punishment. However this is a direct contradiction to the christian idea of being able to atone for sins through Jesus, especially in a protestant nation such as Denmark.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I think that the decision to leave Gertrude to her own guilt made a lot of sense from the Ghost's perspective. The Ghost likely had two reasons for this decision: to prevent Hamlet from having to kill his own mother and as a form of psychological and spiritual punishment. The first is self explanatory, for it is unlikely that Hamlet would have gone along with a plan to kill his own mother due to his emotional connection to her. The second makes sense, for the guilt of betraying her own spouse would likely drive her to insanity. Also she likely wouldn't confess her sins as it would make her guilt all the more real causing her more suffering than if Hamlet had slain her, and it would eventually send her to Hell in the end.
Post a Comment