Description
Chap 1. Advent
Though the Jews had awaited Christ since Abraham, at the inn, there was no room for Him. Herod, first appeared to welcome, then purged Christ. Claudius treated Hamlet, in the same manner, realizing Hamlet sought his throne.
Chap 2. Aeneid
The Aeneid was the announcement of Christ to the pagans. God inspired Virgil to write the history of the founding of Rome. Aeneas’s struggles prefigured the travails of the Apostles journey from Jerusalem to the new Rome. Men’s battles are the image of the struggle of the gods, against God.
Chap 3. Jephte
The men who defend God’s people, are not God’s men. Both Jephte and Samson were exiled by the Jews. Later they were beseeched to save Israel. The same was true of Christ.
Chap 4. Metamorphoses
Can a code of honor, before Christ, provide succor to an honest man? How could the defeated Ajax, face the city which humiliated him, by favoring the liar, Ulysses? Why did the Jews, choose Barabbas, over Christ? Why did Hamlet insist, all men are liars?
Chap 5. Exodus
Moses led the Jews from captivity to Mt. Sinai. God gave Moses His law for the Jews. God demanded purity for His grace to flow like water over them. Hamlet condemned the inhabitants of Elsinore, as being Egyptians, for having rejected Christ’s redemption.
Chap 6. Table First
The First Table instructed man against worshiping false gods. His name, central to a believer’s life, must only be used only to glorify, Him. Finally, the apogee of a good life, is fulfilled through His worship on Sunday. Hamlet, in his travel to Wittenberg, violated God’s demands upon His followers. Hamlet ridiculed those who remained loyal to God.
Chap 7. Table Second
The Law restrains man’s treatment of man, by ordering the soul, wounded by Original Sin. The primary prescription, is love of family. The others restrict urges brought about by Eve’s sin. Hamlet violated all, in his drive to be king.
Chap 8. Penance
The ability of the priest to forgive sin, mercy, is why man has the slightest chance of achieving Purgatory, or Heaven. Hamlet, in apostasy, wished to deprive man of the mercy offered by Christ, through St. Peter. As Christ, Hamlet forgave Claudius the murder of his father.
Chap 9. Apostles Creed
The Creed affirms the central tenets of Christ’s faith. Every heretic denies at least one of the declarations. His denial, brings him into conflict with the others, thus he denies all. As the world was created one, by Christ, so was His Church.
Chap 10. The Pearl
The task of the devil, is to incite arguments over the Pearl, the complete faith. Dissent’s purpose is to detract from the worship of Christ. The Church, has never been immune from satan’s efforts, to divide Christ’s followers. Hamlet was the most, dangerous, of all.
Chap 11. Caesar
Certain men are chosen by God, or a god, for great deeds. The great are recognized by the people, and feared by the rulers. Caesar, Christ and Hamlet, were exiled. Each returned victorious. All advanced the Providence of God.
Chap 12. Diet of Worms
Worms is the city where the Church, did not eat, but was consumed. Claudius proved himself, like Leo X, incapable of dealing with an insurrection, whose leader he held within his power. Weak rulers bring about the destruction of their empires.
Chap 13. Consolation of Philosophy
The question of Philosophy, is, is the world just, for the innocent? The answer of the Church, is, none are innocent. The law has been the same for all men, since Creation. Boethius was pleased with the court, until he was judged by it. Claudius found desolation in the judgment of the Mousetrap, which closed around him.
Chap 14. Apocalypse
The Apocalypse was related to St. John, by God, upon the isle of Patmos, where he had been exiled. Christ will return, and castigate, through His angels, all men, except for those with the mark of the Church, upon them. Shakespeare believed Luther had brought about the beginnings of the thousand years of suffering. The seal meant for Hamlet, instead destroyed Elsinore.
Conclusion
- Who are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern the Answer! One man!
- Did the water come to Ophelia or did Ophelia come to the water?
- Where was Hamlet coming from?
- Who did the worms feed on, on the staircase?
- What is the connection between Hamlet and Aeneas?
- Why is the Aened so important?
- Who is Hamlet’s father? His uncle?
- Why did Hamlet’s father die in his chair? Why is this important?
