Harvard English Professor and Renaissance scholar Stephen Greenblatt delivered a lecture entitled "Hamlet in Purgatory" to an intrigued audience of BC undergraduates and professors last Tuesday.
Dennis Taylor, professor of the English department, began the event by encouraging audience members to attend the 6:30 p.m. forum in response to Greenblatt's lecture.
Following Taylor, Dayton Haskin, professor of the English department, gave a brief history of the lecture series. Finally James Wallace, another professor of the English department, introduced Greenblatt.
With a particular focus on the ghost of Hamlet's father, Greenblatt discussed the relations between religion and literature. He began his lecture by offering a brief history of the function of the Catholic doctrine of purgatory in sixteenth century England.
He first mentioned Simon Fish, an attorney in 16th century England, who authored the explosive pamphlet, "A Supplication for Beggars."
With his strong anti-clerical sentiment, Fish questions why the "idle bloodsuckers [the clergy] mass such power?" Particularly, why do people allow themselves to be so obviously exploited? According to Greenblatt, Fish's answer is one word: "Purgatory."
This concept of purgatory, Greenblatt explained, is an imaginary realm between heaven and hell in which the faithful believed, with no scriptural basis.
The Church exploited this belief by selling indulgences to people, convincing them that clerical prayers could free their lost loved ones from the realm of purgatory. People thus paid Church officials in order to save the souls of the deceased.
Greenblatt described this as the function of purgatory in sixteenth century England.
Reformers, such as Fish, argued against the existence of purgatory, resisting this Church corruption and attempting to launch England toward Protestantism, explained Greenblatt. On the other hand, devout Catholics, such as Sir Thomas More, refuted such reformers as heretics, defending the concept of purgatory.
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