PART FIVE - Ecclesiastical Law in Hamlet

The burial service required according to the laws of England in 1603-4 were very brief and simple:

The ringing of the bell again and the other parts of the service need only to be done after the grave was filled up.

The place of burial could be selected by the parish priest as well as the position of the grave in the churchyard, whether parallel to others being east and west and among them, or on the north side of the church, lying north and south in unsanctified ground. The ancient canons of the church allowed him to prohibit or allow decorations of the corpse and of the grave in the churchyard.

The law of England prohibited singing masses for the soul in all cases. It allowed but did not require the singing of psalms, nor a requiem to be sung at the grave after burial. It also then, as now, allowed incense and holy water, and prayers for the souls of the dead.

The statute law required nothing more than this, and allowed all else that canon law and usage in the various parishes had sanctioned and used before.

Now, in the light of all that has here been said on this subject let us turn to Shakespeare's description of the burial of Ophelia and we will see his sketch of the outlines of it in a clearer and brighter light than ever before.

It should be remembered that Ophelia's funeral was in a rural district, and that high church practices prevailed there, as before stated, and that therefore the disgrace of withholding the usual church services at funerals was more keenly felt by the friends and relatives of deceased than if such omission was common.

The funeral cortege was maimed in such manner as to show that the deceased did with violent hands undo its own life. The maiden pall bearers and the carrying of rosemary, and the strewing of flowers in the pathway by the friends of deceased, virgin crants carried before the coffin by the maidens showed it to be a deceased maiden. Thus they arrived at the entrance of the churchyard. The church bell ringing, the parish priest was there to meet the corpse as required by law. There were no torch bearers, no cross bearer, no holy water, no singing. *

The meager burial services, as required in the Book of Common Prayer, are read in a low voice, and the procession is allowed to silently proceed to the grave, the strewments of flowers in the pathway is continued to the grave, and the virgin crants are allowed there to be placed upon the grave. The coffin is placed on the brink of the grave. Again the low voice of the priest is heard for a few minutes, and all stand silently waiting for something else.

No lighted torches -- No singing of psalms or hymns, no blessing, no sprinkling of holy water. No smoking censer. No holy Eucharist.

Laertes breaks the silence in a subdued voice by asking: "What ceremony else?"

No notice is taken of the inquiry by the priest. Hamlet says to the priest: "That is Laertes, a very noble youth."

Laertes again asks in a louder tone: "What ceremony else?"

The priest replies:

The "great command " that ruled the order of priests was the statute law of England, which recognized the sovereign as the head of the church, and the decision of the coroner binding upon the church that she be entitled to Christian burial.

The line above quoted fully describes the burial of suicides in that part of England where the ancient custom prevailed of burial at the cross-roads with an iron pointed stake driven through the body, to mark the spot, and passers by throw flints and stones upon it.

The priest proceeds to remind them of the favors he had extended, He says:

That is all the legal ceremony and those not prohibited by the church, and he had fulfilled the letter of the law, and rung the bell and had given her an honorable place of burial and a straight grave.

Then said Laertes in astonishment: "Must there no more be done ?" The priest replies: "No more be done!" Then he again firmly and apologetically adds to assure them that it is all over:

Then says the disconsolate Laertes:

Then he turns to the priest and say sharply:

The howling meant crying for mercy.

Hamlet draws near and sees it is Ophelia, and exclaims in mortification and surprise: "What, the fair Ophelia?"

Then the Queen steps forward and scatters flowers in the open coffin and tells her disappointment and grief. She says:

Laertes says of the disgraceful death and burial:

The priest does not scatter the earth upon the coffin after it is lowered into the grave.

Then Laertes says desperately in a paroxism of grief and shame:

(Then he leaps into the grave). Then he says to those standing by:

* * * * *

In the edition of 1603 it is as follows:

* * * * * *

There is still more subtle points of law governing and adopting all the allusions to the laws and customs peculiar to England, in Hamlet; it is this: the well known rule, the "lex fori," prevails, that is, the law of England is by law presumed to prevail in every other country or place where the case arises, unless the contrary is shown by proof. Again, the law is presumed by the forum to have always been the same as at present, unless some reason appears to the contrary. This play of Hamlet was designed to "hold the mirror up to nature," and was written for an English audience, and was to be performed in England; that was the forum and the standard for all laws and customs as they then existed in England. It was not important to the representation when or where Hamlet lived; the forum was, that he lived then and there in England at the time the play was presented by the actors in their usual dress, "to show * * the very age and body of the time." [Hamlet's advice to the players.]

There is no hidden cipher in all this that I have been telling you about, it is so plain that he who runs may read.

The object of this paper has been to illustrate and to lead to a more complete knowledge and understanding of the times, places, and circumstances under which this play of Hamlet was written, and to which it refers; by doing this to increase the interest and appreciation of this wonderful dramatic delineation of human life.

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* The Calvinists and Lutherans sung psalms whenever an opportunity was offered. So the absence of singing was marked on this occasion. back

† This is in accordance with the law of Denmark, where the only penalty against suicides is that the body is not allowed to be buried in consecrated grounds or churchyards. The established church in Denmark is Lutheran since 1536, and full Christian burial rites are very nearly the same as in the Roman Catholic Church. back