ACHIEVED
Introduction
Through studying several texts I intend to write a report answering three main
focus questions. These questions will relate to the topic of religion in my
studied texts. I will use the first two questions to help support my answer in
the third in which I will compare the effects of religion in the texts to the
effects of religion on real life society.
Studied Texts:
Play-Hamlet-William Shakespeare
Novel-I am Not Esther-Fleur Beale
Song-Bloody Sunday-U2
Song-Imagine-John Lennon
What are the religious beliefs of the characters/people in the text?
I am Not Esther
In the book it is strongly suggested that the family the novel is based around
are Exclusive Brethren though it does not actually directly say so. They have a
strong belief in god and follow the Bible closely. All the people living in their
tight community have biblical names. They all believe that they do not need to
be noticed so they wear plain clothes and all the women braid their hair.
"outward appearance does not matter"
They all have faith in the decisions and opinion of the men in their
community. As a result the women spend their spare time at home and
look after the children, cooking, cleaning etc. Because of the exclusive
nature of the community they consider people who rebel against their
beliefs to be 'dead'.
"She does not wont to live o Godly life any more and that is why she left.
She is dead to us. "
Hamlet
The characters in the play "Hamlet" live in a society that has laws and values
based largely around religion. Hamlet is caught in confusion between his
instinct and his religion. His instinct wants to believe the ghost that claims to be
his father looking for help to seek revenge for his murder. On the other hand
his religion tells him that all spirits and ghosts are evil and should not be
trusted.
"Be thou a spirit of health or a goblin damn'd"
He believes in passing through to heaven after death and we later see that he
chooses not to believe his religion that tells him that the spirit of his father is
evil. He also appears to believe that if one commits suicide then one goes to
hell.
How do the religious beliefs of characters in the text affect their
actions or the actions of others?
I am Not Esther
Because of the strong religious beliefs of the family the children in the novel
are affected hugely. They are forced into a life that they can not escape from.
They have no opportunity to form their own opinions.
"While our children must attend secular schools, we cannot hope to
monitor their thoughts and deeds as we would wish "
The community they live in (probably an Exclusive Brethren community) does
not allow education higher than what is required by law. One of the boys,
Daniel wanted to continue his education past that point and attend university
so he could become a doctor who could help the whole group. His
request/offer is denied and as a result of this he chooses to leave the
community and his family.
"To study at university is to invite evil into your life. "
This is a harsh result for a 17-year-old boy who loves his family but is
forced to leave them to pursue his goal. Also in leaving he avoids an
unwanted arranged marriage.
"You forced Miriam to leave and now me."
The main character in the play is a girl named Kirby who is abandoned
by her mother and left with her uncle's highly religious family. She is pushed to
the edge, forced to live a life much different to the one she has been used to
for her whole life. They refuse to call her by her proper name and they give her
the biblical name of Esther. She struggles to settle in and in the end leaves with
Daniel with the help of their school guidance councillor. She gets to the point of
being near a mental breakdown. The strict rules and teachings have left her
confused and she becomes unsure of who she really is.
'I am not Esther, I am Kirby. "
Hamlet
For this text I will focus mainly on the affects on Hamlet himself.
As I stated earlier Hamlet's religious beliefs tell him that ghost that
claims to be his father is evil and is likely to be the work of the devil. On
the other hand though, the ghost arouses his suspicions about his
father's death. Hamlet becomes caught in one of the main themes in the
play, indecision. He spends time thinking about what the ghost tells him
and decides to believe it.
"Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder."
After deciding to believe the ghost he is once again plagued with
indecision. Hamlet's religion tells him that murder for any reason is wrong.
So if he is to follow this belief he is unable to kill Claudius and revenge
his father's murder. Once again Hamlet decides to follow the orders of the
ghost. He first makes sure of Claudius' guilt with a play, which Claudius
abruptly stops. After this Hamlet sees Claudius praying in the church. He at
first goes to take the opportunity to kill an unsuspecting Claudius but stops
because of his religion. Hamlet believes that if he kills Claudius while he is
peaceful and praying, Claudius will go to heaven, so he passes up the
chance to seek revenge.
"I, his sole son, do this some villain send to heaven. Why, this is
hire and salary, not revenge. "
In his famous "to be or not to be" speech Hamlet considers suicide. He
considers whether it is better to live and suffer in the mind or to die and go
into an eternal sleep. His religious beliefs affect his decision not to kill
himself. He knows that suicide will certainly remove any chance of him
going to heaven and it is likely he would go to hell.
How do the effects of religion in the texts compare to the effect of
religion in real society?
The main link between the effects of religion in the texts and the effects of
religion on real society is conflict. In "Hamlet" and "I am Not Esther" there is
conflict as a result of the effects religion has on people. In "I am Not Esther"
we see a family ruined because of the effects of religion. This happens all over
the world just about every day. In the Middle East there are regularly suicide
bombings from Palestinians attacking Jews in Israel. The main conflict caused
by religion that we see today is terrorism. These attacks, like the ones on
London and September 11th 2001, are in the name of religion. Radicals such as
Osama Bin Laden justify them by declaring "Jihad" or a "Holy War" in which
Islam apparently justifies the killing of "the enemy". These attacks ruin the lives
of families all over the world as innocent people are killed to attempt to prove a
point.
These conflicts through religion are clear to all. Even musicians talk about the
needlessness of the killing and conflict. John Lennon even goes as far as
suggesting that we don't need religion in his famous song "Imagine"
"Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace... "
The lyrics in this song talk about the troubles of the world and clearly
Lennon thinks one of them is religion.
Religion leads to death in "Hamlet", though it is mainly caused by Hamlet
choosing to ignore it. This leads to the death of many characters in
"Hamlet".
Ignoring the effects of religion has led to the deaths of many people in
Ireland throughout history. More recently the British Government allowed
the conflict between Protestants and Catholics to lead to the deaths of
many young people on "Bloody Sunday". In a song by the same title U2
described the effects on the families of Ireland.
"And the bottle's just begun
There's many lost, but tell me who has won?
The trench is dug within our hearts
And mothers, children, brothers, sisters
Torn apart!"
Conclusion
The effects of religion on the Characters in the texts I have studied only amplify
the risks of religion to us. We can see the harm that it has on young teenagers
and entire families. In "Hamlet" we can see how it leads the death of relatively
innocent people. The two songs illustrate to us what religion is doing to our
world. It is slowly killing us by playing people off against each other. People are
entitled to their opinions, but religious ones can clearly be dangerous. They are
something that is unfair and unreasonable to press on young uninformed
children. It only takes a few extreme opinions on religion to lead to completely
unnecessary innocent deaths.