SARAH:  This scene between Hamlet and the ghost of his father is a crucial moment in the play.  First of all, it gives the play a clear narrative direction — Hamlet has been given the task of avenging his father’s death.

RALPH:  Second, it provides some religious depth to the play, and this distinguishes it from other more conventional revenge tragedies.  We learn that Hamlet’s father is upset not just because he’s been murdered, but because he’s been murdered before receiving his last rites.

SARAH:  This is important because it links the world of action to the world of ideas — Claudius’s crime isn’t just a physical act, it’s a moral act that takes place in a universe of moral values. And if Hamlet seeks to redress the wrongs done by Claudius, he’ll have to think through this universe of moral values in addition to simply taking revenge.

RALPH:  This is one of the reasons that Hamlet is considered to be such a philosophical play — as action-packed as it is, its protagonist must also decide what it means to take action, and what constitutes a right action.

SARAH:  And finally, this scene gives us another window into the past, and into Hamlet’s own family history.  We hear from the ghost of his father that his parents loved each other deeply — but we haven’t heard from Gertrude, and we don’t know exactly where she stands. Gertrude’s thoughts and even actions will continue to be difficult to interpret as the story continues, for us as an audience as well as for Hamlet as a son.

RALPH:  Sarah, can we talk for a minute about what the ghost says about Gertrude?  Or more specifically, what he tells Hamlet to do about Gertrude?

SARAH:  Certainly, Ralph.  You remember the line:  the ghost says "Howsoever thou pursuest this act, taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive against thy mother aught. Leave her to heaven, and to those thorns that in her bosom lodge to prick and sting her."

RALPH:  Let’s tackle the first part — I take it to mean, however you take revenge on Claudius, don’t think poorly about your mother, and don’t do anything against her.

SARAH:  That sounds about right — although it also could mean, however you take revenge on Claudius, don’t let your mind be tainted by sin, and also don’t do anything against your mother.  In other words, “taint not thy mind” might not have to do with Gertrude.

RALPH:  I see — so, in that case case, Hamlet has something else to worry about – he has to leave his mother alone, but he also has to watch his own moral behavior, or his own thoughts.

SARAH:  This way of understanding the line fits nicely with the genre of revenge tragedies. A common theme in revenge tragedies was how the avenger could achieve his goal without sacrificing his own virtue; this was a problem because taking revenge for purely personal reasons could easily be considered a sin.

RALPH:  Okay, let’s move on to the second part:  Leave her to heaven — let God take care of her — and to those thorns that in her bosom lodge to prick and sting her — and so let her own pangs of her conscience torment her for whatever she’s done.

SARAH:  So if there are these thorns in her bosom, it must be that she’s done something she’s not proud of — that tends to point towards her involvement in the crime, or at least her involvement with Claudius before her husband’s death.

RALPH:  Well, not necessarily — even if she’s completely ignorant of what’s happened, she’s still going to feel pretty awful when she learns later that Claudius killed her husband, and that she's rewarded the murderer by marrying him.  That’s not going to be a nice moment for her.

SARAH:  Good point, Ralph.  There’s also the contrast with Claudius here — while the ghost implies that Claudius is a pure villain and therefore should be done away with, he also suggests that Gertrude is neither a villain nor a heroine — she’s an ordinary person, and she has to struggle with her own conscience if she is to find salvation.  We’ll soon see Gertrude in the midst of exactly that kind of struggle.

RALPH:  Ok, Sarah, let’s now return to this question of Purgatory.

SARAH:  But Ralph —

RALPH:  I know, I know we talked quite a bit about this already, but I still can’t quite make sense of it. We’ve said that, when the play was written, it was strictly mandated in England that everyone conform publicly to the Protestant faith. So what precisely do we make of Shakespeare making his ghost so explicitly come from Purgatory, which is a feature of Catholicism that was denied by Protestants? This must have been really provocative.

SARAH:  Provocative is an understatement. The Catholic/Protestant divide had been tearing at England for the past 70 years, and had been a root cause of conflicts between the great European powers.

RALPH:  Still worse, Purgatory was the symbol of all that was corrupt and venal in the Catholic church — nothing more than an effort to extract money from its believers who paid in order to reduce their loved ones’ time in this horrible place.

SARAH:  We can't exaggerate how divisive this religious split was in English society. Initially, Queen Elizabeth tried to be tolerant, but between the external threat from Catholic powers such as Spain, and the internal threat of assassination from militant English Catholics, friction mounted.

RALPH:  The pope actually excommunicated Elizabeth and called for her removal from power, culminating in the Spanish Armada in 1588.  During that same decade Elizabeth had 60 priests and 20 laymen executed for preaching Catholicism.

SARAH:  Then the famous Gunpowder Plot occurred in 1605, when the government forestalled a Catholic plan to blow up the House of Lords on the opening day of Parliament, which would have killed the lords, the royal family, and all members of Parliament.

RALPH:  All this was going on around the time Shakespeare wrote Hamlet. Portraying Catholic Purgatory as real might not only have been perceived as blasphemous, but even as treasonous, as an attempt to undermine the authority of the government. Why in the world would Shakespeare do this?

SARAH:  Part of the answer may lie with William Shakespeare's father, John Shakespeare. He was had been a well-to-do merchant and a civic leader in Stratford-on-Avon. But when William was in his early teens, the family's financial situation collapsed.

RALPH:  His father was fined for illegal business practices, booted off the city council, and forced to sell off all the family assets as he descended into bankruptcy. This forced the 14 year-old William Shakespeare to quit school and go to work, giving up any hope of continuing his studies.

SARAH:  This all happened during the height of a government crackdown on Catholics. There is evidence to suggest that John Shakespeare was a secretly practicing Catholic; certainly some of his relatives were. There may even be a link between the decline in the family fortunes and John Shakespeare's continued practice of the "old" religion.

RALPH:  After seeing his family financially ruined, his own opportunities cut off, and his father disgraced, it’s possible that Shakespeare was trying to validate the father that he adored… we may be seeing traces of this in Hamlet, when Hamlet's father is portrayed as wise, brave, chivalrous — and Catholic.

SARAH:  This would not be the first time Shakespeare publicly paid homage to this father. As we discussed earlier in our conversation about the phrase eternal blazon, William had obtained for his father the right to a coat of arms and the title of gentleman just a few years earlier — even though this was a costly and time-consuming process.

RALPH:  But Sarah, I just still don't see how Shakespeare could politically get away with a positive representation of Catholicism, especially during a time when plays had to approved by government censors.  There’s reason to believe that Queen Elizabeth not only enjoyed the theatre, but also that she may have been particularly fond of Shakespeare’s plays.  But this Purgatory business seems like it’s crossing a line!  Was Shakespeare just lucky?

SARAH:  Well, if he was, other famous playwrights at the time were certainly not so lucky. When Shakespeare was just starting to make his mark in London, the two most highly regarded playwrights were Thomas Kyd and Christopher Marlowe, that latter of whom we now know was also a secret government agent. One day both of them were arrested on charges of blasphemy and treason. Kyd died in disgrace a year later after having been horribly tortured on the rack, while Marlowe wound up with a dagger in his head. We'll never know the real story, but the moral is clear: even famous playwrights had to be careful not to get on the wrong side of government.

RALPH:  So it’s not likely that Shakespeare’s play could have just — I don’t know, escape the government’s notice.

SARAH:  Hardly — the popularity of public theater was rising dramatically.  By 1600 the top dozen London theaters had seats for about 7% of the population - and the government was quite aware of its potential impact on public opinion. A few summers earlier, part of the entire London theatre season was canceled after a play was deemed by the government to be particularly seditious.

RALPH:  Well then, it’s not entirely clear why Hamlet didn’t get singled out for criticism. I guess there are confusing mysteries inside the text of Hamlet as well as outside the text, and in its life on stage in London. Anyhow, I’m certainly glad it didn’t get banned.

SARAH:  You’re not alone there, Ralph.

RALPH:  Well, Sarah, I think we’ve raised more questions than we’ve answered here — perhaps we’d better review them for our audience — what do you think?

SARAH:  Is the ghost truly the spirit of Hamlet’s dead father?  Could it be telling the truth about King Hamlet’s murder, and yet still be trying to trick Hamlet into committing a sinful crime?

RALPH:  Why does the ghost come from Purgatory?  Is Shakespeare trying to slip a religious point into his play, regarding Catholicism, or is it more likely a dramatic effect that pulls both Hamlet and the audience deeper into the tragedy?

SARAH:  And, finally, is the ghost truly accusing Gertrude of adultery?  Did she know about, or even help to plan, the murder of her husband?

RALPH:  Though I think the answer to that question is pretty clear, Sarah.  “Frailty, thy name is woman!”

SARAH:  I’m sorry.  What’s that supposed mean?

RALPH:  Well, even if Gertrude didn’t play a role in actually plotting the King’s death, she’s a woman, and her weakness allowed her to be pulled into whatever plot Claudius was hatching.  I’m not saying that’s what I think of women, but it’s pretty clear from the point of view of the play.

SARAH:  And your proof for this is what Hamlet says about his mother when he’s mad at her?

RALPH:  It’s right there in the play:  “Frailty, thy name is woman.”

SARAH:  Perhaps we’ll leave it for our viewers to judge — Gertrude’s character, as well as Ralph’s.