Description
Hamlet’s state of mind, brought Hamlet back to our parents, Adam and Eve, after they had been expelled from the Garden. They had expected to be able to sup with the devil and remain in the grace of God. Walking then in darkness, as recognized by Claudius, Hamlet had not yet come to terms with his apostasy. The good people of Elsinore, could not imagine, rejecting Christ and returning to the emptiness of man before Golgotha. A day later, Hamlet admitted that the smoke of Christ’s sacrifice to His Father, had become no more than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors. In rejecting the Mass, Hamlet had separated himself from God, as surely as Adam and Eve had, their children.
The Aeneid might seem irrelevant to a king in Denmark. However, the Aeneid authored by Virgil under the auspices of the Holy Ghost as are all prophets, compared the hostility between Carthage and Rome as a forerunner, of the argument between the Catholics and the Jews who refused to recognize Salvation offered by Christ, King of the Jews. As Aeneas found comfort in Troy under Dido, so the Christians, thought the Jews would all accept the arrival of the Savior as the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Only as in Carthage, love turned to anger and destruction. Christ’s Incarnation did not herald the acceptance of salvation by the men who held power in Jerusalem or Rome. Instead, the aggrieved gods, set about to spread enmity among their followers, towards man’s salvation, because their empires on earth, would crumple if Christ’s victory over satan was accepted. Dido would not allow Aeneas to rule in Carthage, her people would not accept the betrayal of her oath to remain loyal to Sichaeus, her murdered husband. Thus, the enmity between Rome and Carthage was a reflection of the argument between Neptune and Venus, and their adherents. In Elsinore, Hamlet as Luther, was attempting to destroy the Church, which he judged had wandered far from the purpose of Christ’s, His, mission to the world. In the end, Hamlet wanted the Queen, the Church, to look within her soul and see the blotches which marred her once pristine surface.
The smoke which covered Mt. Sinai when Moses ascended, became for Hamlet a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. How could the law which brought light to the world, become so vile to one who had been a believer? This was the question which Claudius and the Queen asked of Hamlet. How was Hamlet’s soul, darkened? Why did Eve listen to the snake? Given the wound of original sin, man’s soul is far weaker than Eve’s. If it was possible for Eve to be seduced by satan, how much easier is it, for her children to listen to the snake. Claudius and the Queen, had the same reaction to Hamlet, as God to Eve. Why have you betrayed me?
Luther’s conflict was never with the Church, but always with God. The Body of Christ, is simply the fulfillment of Christ’s promise to man, that He would always be with him. The Law, has always been first about man’s relationship with God, only passingly about man’s quarrels with man. The First Commandment forbids the worship of strange gods, before Him. Luther, in breaking with the Church, Christ established, shattered the First Commandment, by leading men away from God. At Ophelia’s grave, Hamlet challenged Laertes about eating a crocodile, meaning worshipping one. Hamlet said he would do so. In fact, he already was. Laertes, loyal to the Church, had attempted to revive Ophelia, as Eliseus had a boy, by holding him. Laertes was also declaring the value of relics by embracing a dead saint. Luther, Hamlet, denounced relics as being lies, though he declared his love for Ophelia, in his position as Christ.
The grave was the perfect place for an argument between the Pope and Luther. Hamlet as Luther, rejected both Extreme Unction and the funeral Mass. Neither, he declared, would bring grace to the soul. The argument between the gravediggers over burial in holy ground, was without meaning for Luther, since he considered none sacred. The Church lacked the power to bless. The world Hamlet experienced, had not been so bleak, since before Golgotha. Even Elsinore was seen as weak, reflected in Fortinbras’s opinion of Claudius. For the Pope, is only as strong as the Church. The attacking Fortinbras had his own army to reclaim Elsinore for Christ. As Hamlet had derided Polonius as a fishmonger, because Hamlet saw Polonius as next in line to succeed Claudius, Fortinbras also merited the title. Fishmonger was what Christ made St. Peter, when He told Peter, he would no longer net fishes, but men. The fishmonger comment violated the second command of God, not to disparage God’s name, which would extend to his servant on earth.
Do men steal as easily as they murder? Many murders are committed in the course of the lesser crime of theft. The ease with which a man kills during theft, evidences how attached men are to the material. Who would commit a greater crime, in order to succeed in a lesser offense? The answer was given by the captain, after Hamlet observed the mass of men, who waited for the morning, to go to their graves like beds. For what purpose? The greed was of Fortinbras, who held a weak supposal of Claudius’s worth. Over Elsinore, a patch of ground, that hath no profit but the name. However, the Mass, is prepared for the glory of Thy holy name. The Name, was the argument between Luther and Leo X. Who would the Church worship, God, the Trinity, or another god? Fortinbras wished to be Pope, which he achieved without the use of force, the way the position of God’s representative on earth, should be crowned. As with adultery, murder and theft, all crimes are crimes against God.
The Catechism of the Council of Trent, having defined the Ten Commandments, examined man’s crimes in the world. After men came to know their sins, they had to avail themselves of the Sacrament of Penance, to return to communion with Christ. To know your sins, as even Luther preached, could only lead to despair, if the Church did not offer Penance. Luther in his rebellion, wished men to live without forgiveness so he struck all the sacraments, including Penance, except Baptism and Holy Eucharist, from his religion. On the day when Christ Transfigured Himself, before St. Peter, He said, “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” How can any man who can read deny the power of Confession, given to Peter? Hamlet as Luther declared it void, but Hamlet as Christ, refused to kill his uncle Claudius after hearing Claudius’s confession and forgiving him, because killing Claudius then, would have sent him to heaven. Claudius found kneeling before Christ, to be so hard, he prayed for his weathered sinews to be like those of a newborn babe. Confession should be accompanied by satisfaction, giving up the benefit of the sin. Claudius found this impossible. The conundrum of knowing man’s sinfulness, but refusing him access to Christ’s forgiveness, was a major part of the trouble inside Hamlet’s soul. When Luther denied Holy Orders, thereby dissolving both the priesthood, and the convents, there was no one able to forgive sins, but also no impediment to Hamlet’s marriage to Ophelia. Problems multiplied because without Confession, how could a man be worthy to take communion? The cup held not Christ’s blood, but mankind’s sins.
As the creed summarized the Faith in seven sentences, so Ephraim wrote the Pearl in seven hymns. Christ likened the faith to a Pearl, which a merchant when he found the perfect one, went and sold all he had, to purchase. In his prayer, Ephraim saw the Pearl as a fountain to be drunk from, as was the tooth of the ass, in the jaw by which Samson slew a thousand Philistines. Christ followers have always needed men like Samson, chosen by God to defend them. Hamlet’s father, Julius II, fulfilled his role as both Pope and defender of the faith.
Caesar as King Priam, disparaged his wife’s dream, about his demise on the Ides of March. Caesar entered the Senate unarmed. His enemies carried weapons. Christ in the Garden told the Apostle who defended Him, put up thy sword, for all that take the sword, shall perish by the sword. Hamlet entered the hall of Claudius to play with Laertes, after sending to Claudius, that He was upon his kingdom. Claudius took Hamlet’s life, as Brutus, Caesar’s. Do God and the gods, reveal man’s future, to their chosen acolytes? Is foreknowledge how a man rises in the world? Are such men taken down, by those who fear the rule of God? Is the rule of a king, more comforting than God’s rule?
As the Church is one, so are the enemies of Christ. The Diet of Worms condemned Luther for celebrating the Mass, as did the damned heretics of Bohemia. Luther opposed not Christ’s body on earth, the Church, but Christ, Himself. Luther could not accept the existential oneness of man and Christ, in Christ’s continuing sacrifice of the cross. The Mass had to be denigrated, or the Mass’s flow of grace from Christ, would impede Luther’s heresy. Luther declared all men priests, meaning none had the power to transform the bread and wine, into the Body and Blood of Our Lord. Luther insisted the bread remained, thus leaving Baptism, the only pure sacrament. He also denied grace flowed from the priest’s offering of Christ, to the parishioners. The only benefit was to the priest himself. Hamlet however found saying Mass, after he lost belief, was being on a sterile promontory. Hamlet had rejected his connection to Christ.
After all Boethius’s complaints, the hardness of exile, the betrayal of friends, he admitted the Truth given to him by Mary, which echoed Pythagoras, “Follow after, God.” Why was Boethius lied about? Boethius had chosen to spend his life among liars. Why are men on the earth? Our parents, listened to the devil. What is the purpose of life? Follow after, God! Not a pagan devil, but the Lord, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. When Hamlet’s Father came to him from Purgatory, in which Hamlet did not believe, Hamlet followed him. For the spirit was the image of the Father, who could not have been more like the Son, the Trinity, in Elsinore.
Caesar and Julius II, spent lavishly to become high priest. Neither were concerned with the material, but only honor before a god, or God. Pagan and Catholic both accepted the irrelevance of the material, compared to the spiritual. The grasping for the material, is despised by the poor, generosity with even stolen goods, brings honor. Claudius like Caesar spent freely with the wealth he had murdered to attain. Claudius wished to repent, but found he could not relinquish the prize. Was he then doomed? Does not penance require satisfaction? If all reward is distributed from the hand of God, except for theft, does it matter how we acquire our bread and wine? Caesar took from Crassus, but was never indebted to him. Julius II took from Catholics outside Italy to build St. Peter’s, did this offend Christ? Were Michelangelo’s paintings debased by being paid for by Germans? No! The purpose of the material is to serve the spiritual, there is no higher use for gold.
More than gold. More than slaves. What does the great man desire? Love! Just as the Holy Ghost is the summation of the love of the Father for the Son, so is love the most seductive of all the pleasures of the world. Caesar, though in need of help, cared not for the money of Crassus. What did Caesar desire? A triumph! No amount of money could equate to the pleasure a victorious general felt, walking the Appian Way, with the people of Rome, calling his name in unison, Caesar. This was the desire of Eve, to be the center of love in the universe, the crime of every false god. Such love is due only to the Lord, the Trinity. All others who are given love, except in unison with the Trinity, are thieves. Caesar wanted the people of Rome to love Caesar as much as they did Juno. Boethius knew unless a Caesar is recorded by the sages of his time, even he is forgotten. Caesar thus chronicled Caesar, brilliantly. But the world is the world, so a second death always comes, when the author and his subjects are forgotten, inducing a second death. Hamlet knew the players recorded the actions of the kings, and only their words survived the grave. How does a man surmount this obstacle? No one can, except if He is God. Such men seek, as the false gods, to steal from God, the love due to the Creator. God will never permit such a crime to succeed.
From the throne of God, a river of life proceeds, through the Lamb. This is the grace opened unto the world, by the thrust of the spear which pierced the side of Christ. The fountain has flowed endlessly from Golgotha, to those who follow the shoes of the fisherman. This is the river in which Ophelia drowned. As the Asperges from Easter Sunday declares, this is the water which comes to he who believes.
