I am currently reading through Paul Cantor’s short book on Hamlet and finding it illuminating on the subject of ethics/sanctions.
Cantor argues that the tension in the play is not primarily between Catholic and Protestant ethics but between Classical and Christian ethics. We can sum up the difference by saying the former encourages revenge while the latter prohibits it.
These contrasting worldviews similarly have contrasting sanctions. For the classical world, the purview is this world. For Christianity, the purview is eternity.
Hamlet, Cantor argues, stands poised between these two worlds, making him the true Renaissance man, the representative of an era that attempted to revive the classical world in a Christian society. His father’s world was classical and supported military strength and action. Christianity favors moral strength and forgiveness. Hamlet is intelligent enough to see the attractive qualities of both.
Cantor is a Hegelian and believes that tragedy contrasts two good qualities: classical heroism and Christian heroism. I want to make this same argument about the potentially competitive offices of Prophet, Priest, and King.
Experiments in Criticism 