The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 13.1868  Tuesday, 10 September 2002

[1]     From:   Martin Steward <
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        Date:   Monday, 9 Sep 2002 23:06:35 +0100
        Subj:   SHK 13.1865 To kill or not to kill

[2]     From:   John W. Kennedy <
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        Date:   Monday, 09 Sep 2002 20:07:21 -0400
        Subj:   Re: SHK 13.1865 To kill or not to kill


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Martin Steward <
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Date:           Monday, 9 Sep 2002 23:06:35 +0100
Subject: To kill or not to kill
Comment:        SHK 13.1865 To kill or not to kill

>Shakespeare's education would have given him this angle on semantics but
>is it really part of the Christian canon?  Did Hamlet know of this fine
>distinction between murder, killing and punishment?  It seems he was
>confused but was the writer similarly bemused?  Are pacifists therefore
>anti-Christian?  Is this where Hamlet's madness lay?

Romans 12:19

Francis Bacon, "Of Revenge", Essayes and Counsels, Civill and Morall

m

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           John W. Kennedy <
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Date:           Monday, 09 Sep 2002 20:07:21 -0400
Subject: 13.1865 To kill or not to kill
Comment:        Re: SHK 13.1865 To kill or not to kill

>Shakespeare's education would have given him this angle on semantics but
>is it really part of the Christian canon?

Yes.

>Did Hamlet know of this fine
>distinction between murder, killing and punishment?

Yes.  You might as well ask if he breathed.

>It seems he was
>confused but was the writer similarly bemused?  Are pacifists therefore
>anti-Christian?

"Anti-Christian" is too strong, but:

       It is lawful for Christian men at the commandment of the
       Magistrate to wear weapons and serve in the wars.
                -- 39 Articles, Article 37, "Of the Civil Magistrates"

...so pacifists are, at least as far as the Church of England is
concerned, heretical.

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