There is the vigil or Christian wake. This is the time when the family can gather before the open casket to remember and pray for their loved one. The family can also say the rosary or other devotions. In many countries it is the custom to spend the entire night. This is when it is most appropriate to have eulogies and stories. The next day is the Mass of Christian burial.
It is so important that the body be present — even if later it will be cremated. The funeral Mass begins with the blessing of the body with holy water. The body is then present for the Mass. The greatest thing you can do for your departed love ones is the sacrifice of the Mass. The Bible encourages prayers and sacrifices for the dead. In the play Hamlet, Ophelia commits suicide.
Because of this, there is controversy over how she should be buried. Claudius demands that she should be granted all of the rites of a Christian burial, but the priest refuses because in the Old Code, the Christian religion denies existential burials to people who have committed suicide. When Hamlet talks to the gravedigger, he says that her noble rank should earn her a Christian Burial. Hamlet, King of Denmark, lived about A.
D. 700, and Christianity was not introduced in Denmark until about A. D. 827, by Harold. So the laws of the Christian Church of England were referred to, and not the laws of Denmark, in the time of Shakespeare. Queen Elizabeth died March 23, 1603, so the Hamlet of to-day was written under the reign of King James I.
The Essay on Hamlet A Question Of Interest Letter
Dear Kylie, I noticed your submission to Culture Magazine, regarding Shakespeares great play Hamlet. Having recently studied Hamlet in Year 12 English, I think I can help answer one of your questions. You asked why is Hamlet regarded as a tragic hero and the play a classic tragedy? Before I can answer your question, you must first understand the difference between the meaning of tragedy today and ...
In this connection it is important to note the effect that this might have had upon the forms then used by the English Church in burials, and might have caused a change in this description of the burial of Ophelia. The explanation of Ophelia’s burial offered in most criticisms is that the grave is on the border of the sacred ground, in an area reserved for those whose Christianity might be questionable.
