Faith plays an important role in the way one lives one's life. Christianity plays an important role in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. When reading the play, one must think of the controversies of the time when Shakespeare wrote the play. Opinions about the Reformation and the Renaissance are reflected everywhere. Shakespeare addresses very controversial religious attitudes and issues related to death, the existence of purgatory, morality, murder, suicide and marriage in his play Hamlet. It is evident throughout the play that Hamlet's life is guided by his faith and religious beliefs. At the beginning, Hamlet sees the ghost of his deceased father and swears to avenge his death. “Christianity forbids followers from seeking spirits for advice or communication” (Ja) Hamlet finds his faith tested because he is unsure of what his father tells him. If the truth is that Claudius was the one who murdered Hamlet's father, then Hamlet will have to commit murder himself in order to keep his promise to his father's ghost. “Hamlet, after the shock of his discoveries, becomes virtually a different person and reevaluates the situation based on his religious views. Maybe the ghost is just an illusion or a mental disorder that makes him imagine this story, and the murder of his father is illusory because he is not capable of accepting this kind of marriage and that he wants to justify his crimes. (****) Hamlet struggles with his feelings and decides that he must get Claudius to admit to the murder instead of murdering Claudius himself. He is aware of the moral dilemma he finds himself in: if he kills Claudius, then he, Hamlet, could go to hell. If he refuses to kill Claudius, his father could be sent to hell. Hamlet knows, from his religious background, that this murder... middle of paper... involves moral issues of profound importance; recognition of this fact is essential to understanding the tragedy. (Sister Joseph 125) Almost all the characters in the play, whether good or bad, have Christian thoughts. Hamlet's decision not to kill Claudius until he knows that he will be destined to live in hell constitutes the main turning point of the play. His fulfillment of his father's ghost command is condemnation. Hamlet is a Christian prince whose sense of Christian morality drives his motivations in this timeless play by William Shakespeare. Works Cited Alsaif, Omar A. “The Importance of Religion in Hamlet.” Journal of English and Literature 3.6 (2012): 132-135. Internet. April 15, 2014. Ja. “Hamlet’s Christianity.” Yahoo Contributor Network. Yahoo, October 21, 2010. Web. April 14, 2014. Joseph, Miriam and Jr. “Hamlet, a Christian tragedy”. JSTOR. Np, and Web. April 12. 2014.