At its core, Hamlet is about revenge; it is the driving force for the entire play. Yet in Christian societies, revenge is not a permissible thing, Hamlet struggles with this through the entire play despite having a divine right to the throne.
When Hamlet first sees his father’s spirit in Act 1 scene 5, the Ghost tells him that Hamlet must seek revenge and that he must walk the Earth during the night to pay for his sins. This brings us to the idea, if King Hamlet is to walk the earth, and we know he is going to tell his son he was murdered, why would God allow him to say such a thing when we know the Bible says, “it is mine to avenge; I will repay” (New International Version Deut. 32. 35). It would appear that King Hamlet is taking revenge into his own hands by having his son kill Claudius. When King Hamlet’s ghost appears to Hamlet to tell him to “revenge his foul and most unnatural murder (I. v. 24)” Hamlet questions his father’s spirit with, “Murder? (I. v. 25)”. This is confusing to Hamlet for two reasons: first, it means that his father’s death was no accident like he was told and secondly: that someone has interfered with the divine right of kings. The divine right of kings states that kings derive their earthly authority from God because they were chosen by him to govern and that any attempt to dispose of the king is contrary to God’s will. Upon this revelation to Hamlet, he now realizes that it is his solemn duty to get rid of this false king Claudius, like a reversal of the Henry IV tetralogy.
Therefore by taking revenge for his father’s murder, Hamlet is fulfilling God’s Will for the state of Denmark. This then puts to rest the ghost dilemma; the ghost can be from purgatory in the likeness of his father but Hamlet being suspicious, fears it could be a trick from the Devil. Showing that the ghost is from God is further shown in Act 3 scene 4 when Ghost King Hamlet reproaches Hamlet for not already taking vengeance, “do not forget. This visitation is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose” (III. iv. 110-111). This occurrence between Hamlet, the Ghost, and Gertrude happens immediately after Hamlet passes up an ideal opportunity to kill Claudius in Act 3 scene 3 when Claudius is kneeling, trying to pray for forgiveness, when Hamlet walks in behind him with sword in hand. Hamlet does not kill him though because he does not want Claudius to go to Heaven because he thinks that Claudius just confessed his sins. This is important because if Hamlet were a true Christian he would not care about Claudius’s soul because he would know that God will eventually forgive him anyway.
Although, it can also be interpreted during Shakespeare’s time that, Claudius will get what he deserves and not go to heaven; essentially, that Hamlet’s restraint from killing Claudius in Act 3 scene 3 was justified because Claudius is supposed to go to Hell. Thomas Beard, in summary, says that those who kill their rulers will forever have “his hand on hid dagger” out of fear that they will be disposed as well and will ultimately get what is coming to them ( Beard 206-207). Because Claudius does not end up repenting, “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to heaven go” (III. iii. 96-97), he will go to Hell, which is why the Ghost tells Hamlet to stop dragging his feet because Claudius will never repent.
Even in the event that God is not orchestrating Hamlet’s revenge through divine right, audiences during Shakespeare’s time could fall back on the arguments of Sir Francis Bacon. Bacon states that the only tolerable revenge is “revenge for a wrong ‘which there is no law to remedy’” (Bacon, Jordan 207). Hamlet’s revenge is therefore tolerable because once Claudius becomes king, he is the law. And the only one who knows he’s not – that Claudius is a fake – is Hamlet, which the people of Denmark think is crazy. This is another reason Hamlet is dragging his feet to murder Claudius, he is trying to get absolute proof that Claudius killed his father so that when he becomes king, people do not just arbitrarily decide to murder him.
The revenge plot in Hamlet, regarding religious justification during Shakespeare’s time, ultimately comes down to Hamlet’s divine right to rule. If Hamlet does not act, Denmark can plunge into war and chaos as seen in the Henriad. Although, it’s interesting to point out that Hamlet’s actions ultimately cause immediate, concentrated death and chaos – sparing the people from war and chaos – which leaves Denmark’s newly acquired land back into the hands of Prince Fortinbras of Norway, arguably its true rightful owner.

References
Bacon, Francis. Of Revenge. Hamlet. By William Shakespeare. Ed. Constance Jordan. New York: Pearson/Longman. 2005. 207-209. Print.
Beard, Thomas. The Theater of God’s Judgments. Hamlet. By William Shakespeare. Ed. Constance Jordan. New York: Pearson/Longman. 2005. 206-207. Print.
Jordan, Constance, ed. Hamlet. By William Shakespeare. New York: Pearson/Longman. 2005. Print.
The Holy Bible, New International Version. Grand Rapids: Zondervan House, 1984. Print.