Law in Hamlet: AO3 (Context)

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Burials and Ophelia's death

  • There were legal issues regarding Ophelia’s death. The phrase ‘Her death was doubtful’ implies that they don’t know if she purposefully tried to commit suicide or if her death was accidental. Therefore, there’s tension been statutory and ecclesiastical law. Insanity also plays an important role.
  • Under ecclesiastical law, anyone who committed suicide couldn’t have a Christian burial, even if they were insane. Alternatively, statutory law understood that mentally ill people couldn’t voluntarily commit suicide as they weren’t in a state where they could make decisions as themselves.
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Murder and crime/punishment

  • Medieval system - It was legal to kill felons as they had forfeited the law’s protection (who fled or resisted restraint arrest, prisoner assault to a guard, highway robbers, burglars etc). On the other hand, accidental killing was a crime because the dead person hadn’t taken themselves out of the law’s protection.
  • Modern system (Shakespeare’s time) - They focused on the mental state of the accused person (mens rea). Killings in self-defence or accident were no longer a crime.
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Religion

  • Hamlet contemplates suicide in the ‘To be or not to be’ speech but questions the afterlife. This links to ecclesiastical law because he knows he wouldn’t be entitled to a Christian burial so it is seen as going against God and the Church, and even if he was deemed insane he would still be buried at the side of the churchyard.
  • Hamlet could kill Claudius when he is praying, but doesn’t because he wants him to go to hell, which emphasises his contemplation rather than his impulsivity at other points in the play.
  • Catholics in Elizabethan audiences would have been skeptical of the Ghost because they believed that ghosts were in purgatory so that they could rid themselves of their sins to go to heaven.
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Inheritance

  • Property rights are a recurring theme in Hamlet. Understanding English property law during Shakespeare’s time is important to understand the character’s actions/motivations.
  • Hamlet’s father’s land shouldn’t be an issue for Hamlet, even though his mother married Claudius. When Hamlet’s father died, it would have taken a long time for the messenger to get the news to Hamlet, then he would have to make the trek to Elsinore.  
  • Claudius might be in ‘de facto’ possession, though not de jure of Hamlet’s inheritance long before Hamlet arrives at Elsinore to assert possession. This would leave Hamlet in a legally weak position as he can not claim that Claudius interfered with his possession because Hamlet never had possession. The moment King Hamlet died, Gertrude had to claim to his still-undivided estate through dower, just as Hamlet had to claim through inheritance.  
  • Claudius’ legal tricks don’t deny Hamlet’s inheritance forever, they just delay it. Claudius could still have ‘tenancy by the curtesy’ (If Gertrude were to bear a child by Claudius, he could claim some of the estate)
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Justice and Revenge (1)

  • Kornstein notes that ‘the law may benefit society as a way of channeling the passion of revenge, which might otherwise go unchecked’.
  • Kornstein also points out that Hamlet’s contemplation isn’t a sign of weakness or cowardice, but a sign of resilience in the urge of revenge, as it is harder to hold back than to take action and Hamlet lets this drive him insane (as he wants to do the right thing between avenging his father’s death and being morally correct) when he could just act. Hamlet has questioned his actions, and Kornstein thinks he deserves respect for his ‘long inner struggle’.
  • Posner notes that there can be no better illustration of the costliness of revenge than the unnecessary deaths of so many more-or-less good people in Hamlet. He argues that ‘Hamlet represents Elizabethans’ ambivalence toward revenge, based on the New Testament's rejection of it.’
  • Both Kornstein and Posner find a lawyer-like quality in Hamlet’s reflectiveness and ability to see both sides of an issue. For example, in the ‘To be or not to be’ speech, Hamlet seeks more evidence, rather than taking the Ghost’s word for what happened.
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Justice and Revenge (2)

  • Yoshino points out that Hamlet has an intellectual commitment to ‘perfect justice’, rather than acting fast and finding he/the Ghost was wrong.
  • He states that there are two phases to Hamlet’s delay - seeking truthfulness in the Ghost’s words and the punishment of Claudius, which may be why he was contemplative for so long.
  • With this being said, Yoshino criticises Hamlet for his delay, as if he had acted more swiftly, many deaths (including his own) would have been prevented. He argues that Hamlet’s stubbornness towards his intellectual vision blinds him of his consequence to others, and his ‘perfect justice’ that he tries to create ultimately becomes an imperfect justice.
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