Confess Yourself to Heaven

"O, step between her and her fighting soul! Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works."

Silly me, I thought I knew a lot about Hamlet. As it turns out, I don't, but I do know a little bit more than I did before. Coming from modern perspective, I always wondered at Hamlet's obsession over his mother's marrying her Brother-in-law; being married to a guy with two brothers, yes I found it a bit distasteful, but by modern standards it doesn't qualify as truly incestuous. Well, I found a fabulous article that discusses the societal norms and religious views from the Elizabethan point of view.  Prince Hamlet and the Protestant Confessional, by Roland Mushat Frye goes into the issue at length and explains why Shakespeare's audience would have totally been on board with Hamlet's little problem over his mother's behaviour well before he found out that his Uncle murdered his father, and that Gertrude was betraying her husband before he was murdered. He also gives the best analysis of the confrontation between mother and son in Act III that dispenses with all the silly Oedipal theories. Frye suggests eloquently that Hamlet is leading his mother to repentance, and by making the effort to save her soul, he redeems himself as well. For anyone with any interest in this play, it is well worth a read. This article is only part of a book on the entire subject, The Renaissance Hamlet: Issues and Responses in 1600.