Ghosts in the Elizabethan Era
Today, ghosts are discussed with skepticism but were considered perfectly real and accepted in Elizabethan England by everyone from the educated to the illiterate. "Where witches and ghosts were concerned, it was commonly accepted that they existed and the person who scoffed at them was considered foolish, or even likely cursed.
There was great controversy between Catholics and Protestants about the nature in which ghosts appeared, when William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet. Ghosts were said to emit strange noises and sometimes appeared in a present life to convey a message or finish tasks left over from their lifetime.
There was great controversy between Catholics and Protestants about the nature in which ghosts appeared, when William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet. Ghosts were said to emit strange noises and sometimes appeared in a present life to convey a message or finish tasks left over from their lifetime.
Artifact 6: James IV of Scotland, who later became James I of England, was the author of a guidebook called Dæmonologie shown to the right. Written in a trilogy, the book declares King James' support of witch trials and his belief that they should be punished.
This book was widely believed to be a response to The Discoverie of Witchcraft by Reginald Scot, which disproved the myths of witchcraft. James IV was so furious that he reportedly had copies of this book burned. Thomas Ady also supported Reginald Scot and published his own book called, The Perfect Discovery of Witches. Ady pointed out that witches could not be identified by blemishes since most people had blemishes, among his other arguments. Also discussed in Dæmonologie were a wide range of topics including fairies, werewolves, and ghosts in addition to witchcraft. In the book, James I described the two types of ghosts. One type of ghost, he thought, was a disbeliever of God; the other had been immoral during his time on Earth. In other words, to be a ghost was a punishment for those who lived an nonreligious or unethical life. |