#HamletSolved1
Matthew 24.29-31
“And immediately after the tribulations of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the kindreds of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his Angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect, from the four winds, and from the one end of the heavens unto the other.”
GNV
In Matthew 24, Jesus speaks to his Apostles. He begins by telling them that the Temple in Jerusalem will fall, and be destroyed.
The apostles ask Jesus about the end of the world, and about His return in the future.
In verses 29-31, Jesus refers to the signs of the end of the world, and the Second Coming. By alluding to these Bible verses, Shakespeare is planting an idea at the very beginning of the play. He is reminding us all that the end times are coming soon. For people of little faith, this can be a terrifying idea. For people of faith, it is a cause for great hope.
By the end of the play, Denmark has fallen. Shakespeare is warning us that kings and emperors and rulers will come and go, and empires and nations will rise and fall. This world will pass away. But there is a world to come. We should be comforted by the fact that there is one Kingdom coming, and one King of kings who will return in glory.
Therefore, the Hamlet play serves a very distinct purpose—to prepare us for the inevitable return of Jesus Christ.
The last line of Horatio’s speech refers to how there are times when “heaven and earth together” demonstrate or give us signs, to warn us about what is going to come. We should all be alert, to look for such signs.