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Monica Oves

AP Lit, Period 8

Mr. Savett

4 December 2015

The Hobbesian Prison

Family can either support you, or trap you. They supposedly guide you, but what if they

push you in a different direction entirely, slowly making you lose sight of yourself? In William

Shakespeares most exalted tragedy, Hamlet finds himself stuck between two ideologies-

Protestantism and Catholicism. Despite being influenced by both, Hamlet is barred by his

Protestant stepfather from his university at Wittenberg, a hub of Protestant education. This

effectively pushes him in accordance with the Catholic ideologies exhibited by his father, Hamlet

Sr., such as warrior-like actions, duality in decisions, and confidence in past ancestors. While

many characters are allowed to swerve between these religious polarities, Hamlet has a patricide

to avenge, a princes authority to consider, and his accidental murder of Polonius on his

conscience. These factors essentially force Hamlet to fall into the Hobbesian trap he sought to

avoid, and thus become a Catholic Warrior-King.

Horatio embodies what Hamlet wants to be: he does not let his passions dictate his

behavior, he remains in the middle of religious polarities, he becomes a beacon of self-control

outside Hamlet's prison of madness, and he refuses to spin on the wheel to the Hobbesian

trap. Among Hamlet's biased soliloquys and manipulative debates, the only conversations closest
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to the truth are with Horatio. Horatio is grounded in reality, and art a scholar (1.1.49); he is not

tempted to engage in debate, action, or emotion beyond the pragmatic. In Hamlets eyes, Horatio

is an ideal option as the one to tell his story, because ideal storytellers are those who are

unbiased, and are ultimately objective viewers. As seen through Horatios actions, he is not

passions slave (3.2.77), even between religious and familial conflict. Most of all, he exhibits

negative capability, where he acknowledges the Catholic presence of Hamlet Sr.'s ghost,

however, the ghost does not influence or interact with Horatio in any way, showing how Horatio

is not impacted by the religious sects. He is also the first person that Rosencrantz and

Guildenstern came to for advice on how to deal with the sudden appearance of the ghost, because

Horatio is perceived as level-headed and logical, and will not let belief take hold of him

(1.1.29). It is the same within the castle, where he takes neither side by serving Claudius freely

as a figure directly below God, while also upholding Hamlets war-like decisions against the

powers of the king. The only time Horatio questions Hamlets decisions are when Hamlet plans

to kill Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Violence is not part of Horatios character, essentially

inhibiting him from falling into the Hobbesian trap, unlike Hamlet whose snap decisions usually

involved deaths, such as Rosencrantzs, Guildensterns, and Polonius. Out of everyone in the

castle, Horatio was the sole significant character who survived, because he did not fall into

hostilities and did not seek to take what was not already his own. He only offers to take his own

life, which is all he has, to show his loyalty to Hamlet. Horatios lack of anything to offer, such

as his modest work, lack of dispute, and simple responses, despite his clear intelligence when

grasping Hamlets play on words as well as understanding what is rotten in the state of

Denmark (1.4.90) since he saw the ghost, put him outside of the madness. He is left as

unthreatening as possible, and therefore the least likely to fall into the Hobbesian trap.
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Sharply contrasting Horatio, Claudius and Hamlet Sr. offer distinct behaviors of

Protestantism and Catholicism that pressure Hamlet from both sides, and they display selfish and

violent qualities, as well as conflict that strengthen the Hobbesian trap and Hamlets ultimate

regression into it. Hamlet Sr. appears as a ghost trapped in purgatory. Protestantism does not

contain the belief of purgatory, however Catholicism does, and Hamlet Sr.s presence proves his

Catholic ideology. When he appears, he pushes his son to murder Claudius, alike to premodern

thinking of an eye for an eye, so that his "foul crimes done in [his] days of nature / Are burnt and

purged away" (1.5.17-18). Despite being a ghost from purgatory, he still asks Hamlet to kill for

him, which counteracts the purpose of purging sins, revealing his primal instinct for violence and

aggression. He uses Hamlet as a vector for his revenge, in order to cleanse himself and go to

heaven, thereby passing on his sins onto Hamlet, who will have been forced into the Hobbesian

trap through his actions. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Claudius often does not hesitate to

harm or kill, whether it be Hamlet or Hamlet Sr. Protestantism places more emphasis on faith in

God than avoiding sinful actions in order to reach salvation. Claudius lack of hesitation to

consistently attempt to kill Hamlet, as well as murdering his own brother, shows his assuredness

of entering heaven. He also confesses without the presence of a priest, but as a direct address to

God, which is a uniquely Protestant aspect. Claudius slips into the Hobbesian trap through

murder in his strong desire for the crown and Gertrude, festering in jealousy and then

succumbing to murder because of competition. Claudius also cultivates the trap through his fear

of Hamlet stealing his glory away. Afraid of what Hamlet is capable of, he attempts to keep him

under control, particularly through the watchful eyes of the Panopticon. However, he also

proceeds to flaunt his new-found glory in front of Hamlet by using Gertrude and his power over

the prince, as well as telling Hamlet to throw to earth/[the] unprevailing woe (1.2.309-310) of
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losing his father. Emphasizing that Claudius has replaced the late king as the new hero, he pulls

Hamlet into a dissension, and thus the Hobbesian trap, but also pushes him away into the belief

of Hamlet Sr.s Catholic presence and desire for avengement.

Hamlet descends into aggression and premodern thinking, where he is unable to exist in

negative capability due to outside forces, and thereby falls into the Hobbesian trap and becomes

a Catholic Warrior-King. Hamlet was pushed into Catholicism from the very beginning, taking

on fairly conservative views after being barred from returning to his Protestant education by a

Protestant leader, Claudius. His entrapment perpetuates Hamlets resentment in that Denmarks

a prison (2.2.262) to him now, rather than a home. Because of Claudius paranoia, Hamlet is

kept like a prisoner, and is subject to the unwavering observation of the Panopticon. Hamlet now

idolizes his father even more so in comparison to Claudius tyranny, as he literally compares

Claudius and Hamlet Sr. in front of Gertrude, making avenging the patricide seem more

appealing, ultimately dragging him into the Hobbesian trap. Hamlet, in accordance with

Catholicism, waits to kill Claudius until he is about some act/That has no relish in salvation

int (3.4.96-97) in order to send him to hell successfully, as Catholicism places more weight on

action than faith. Had Hamlet viewed him through Protestant eyes, it would have made sending

Claudius to hell impossible in his unwavering faith, so naturally Hamlet leaned toward the other

ideology in order to facilitate fulfilling his fathers mission. In Hamlets soliloquy, he talks of

suicide as though a viable option, and then quickly refutes it as a sin, again because actions in

Catholicism hold more weight than mere faith in God. The soliloquy features the duality in

Catholic ideology, because unlike Protestantism, it features a central religious community rather

than many denominations. The binary aspect appeals to Hamlet as having the simplicity of two

choices, to be or not to be (3.1.64): the Christian ideal of denying thyself or succumbing to

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martial characteristics of spilling blood. In his compromising position, between choosing to kill

Claudius and ignoring his father, he is forced to pick a side. Already embracing Catholicism,

Hamlet cannot ignore his father for fear he is a demon anymore, and feels forced, as a princely

authority and his son, to complete his task. The turning point, where he finally falls into the

Hobbesian trap, is the murder of Polonius, where he attacked him, succumbing to passionate

anger dictated by aggression and violence. His embracing of the natural state of man leads him

to adopt the primal instinct of taking power, where he assumed himself to be the writer by killing

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, fenced with Laertes to see who was best, and even sought to

control Ophelia, growing incredibly angry at the lack of direct address at her funeral, as though

his loss of control and interaction over her after death has deeply wounded him. His forceful

murder of Claudius after finally embracing aggression in the trap, by literally taking control over

what he drinks and how he dies, marked his final transition into the most powerful: the king.

Hamlet arrives in Denmark upon a time of upheaval, where he lives among counteracting

ideologies as he tries to stay outside of the madness of the castle, seeking Horatio out as a model.

Hamlet, however, poses as a threat, as well as an opportunity. Claudius paranoia of losing what

he had obtained from his brother leads him to keep an eye on Hamlet, while Hamlet Sr. uses his

son to avenge the patricide. The clashing religious sects draw Hamlet into the conflict, and

ultimately his emotional upheavals, princely duties, and prisoner status lead him succumb to

mans natural state, most prominently in the murder of Polonius, and fall into the Hobbesian trap,

finally battling as a Catholic Warrior-King.