Context Flashcards
The succession question
Elizabeth England was concerned with who would take the throne after she died
Destabilising - years of conflict
The role and expectations of women
No vote
House
Honour and virginity
But Elizabeth - strong women
‘I know I have the body of a weak, feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too
Neither Gertrude nor Ophelia is Elizabeth - widows weren’t norm to remarry and women not meant to enjoy sex
Shocking Ophelia makes sexual references
Religion
Elizabeth was Protestant but Mary was Catholic
Claudius makes soldiers work Sunday - ignoring sabbath
Can’t kill Claudius while at prayer
Wittenberg - Protestant uni
Attitude towards suicide
The church excommunicated people who committed suicide - they could not be buried in consecrated ground
Not be able to pass into heaven
Referenced in hamlets first soliloquy
Ophelia death is presumed suicide - hence the conversation between the gravediggers about the injustice of her burial
Ophelia can be buried there because Claudius has intervened with a combination of power and money, probably, and bought an indulgence or similar from the church so that she can have a christian burial
