RT Article
T1 Hamlet the Heretic: The Prince's Albigensian Rhetoric
JF Religions
VO 10
IS 1
SP 1
OP 11
A1 Lockerd, Benjamin
LA English
PB MDPI
YR 2019
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1587260115
AB Some of Hamlet's speeches reflect a dualistic view of the world and of humanity, echoing in particular some of the heretical beliefs of the Albigensians in southern France some centuries earlier. The Albigensians thought that the evil deity created the human body as a trap for the souls created by the good god, and Hamlet repeatedly expresses disgust with the body, a “quintessence of dust” (II.ii.304-305). Because they regarded the body as a soul trap, the Albigensians believed that marriage and procreation should be avoided. “Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?” Hamlet demands of Ophelia, adding that “it were better my mother had not borne me” (III.i.121-24). He sounds most like a heretic when he goes on to say “we will have no more marriage” (III.i.147). Though Hamlet continues with dualistic talk nearly to the end, there is some turning toward orthodox Christianity.
K1 Albigensian heresy
K1 Catholicism
K1 Dualism
K1 Hamlet
DO 10.3390/rel10010019