Introduction
There is a difference between a play and a poem. A poem combines many words to make you feel a certain way about issues in society. Hamlet's play involves many people who act out to bring the story and gives you certain feelings. The comparison is between the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare and the poem songs of innocence by William Blake. The two are distinctively written by writers who were at the top and skilled to bring out emotions and change in society by making people feel a particular emotion. Shakespeare was for long perceived to be a great poet, and his works are easily comparable with William Blake, believed to be associated with mystic traditions.
In both Hamlet's play and the songs of innocence poem, religion is a dominating theme. In Hamlet, William Shakespeare points to the region's topic and discusses it openly and its impact on society. Blake departs from that approach and approaches religion's issues in a community discretely in the poem song of innocence (Tomlinson, 2016). In the poem, Blake observes that God will lead us into a happier life while questioning religion's role. He uses the Lamb and the shepherd as imagery to signify belief (Tomlinson, 2016).
Poems
In his poems included in the songs of innocence collection, Blake argues that it’s God who will help the people and not religion as an institution. God can lead his people to a happier life. In the chimney Sweeper poem, Blake presents the angel as an oppressive ordering Tom to engage in an undesirable job (Tomlinson, 2016). Blake attempts to disapprove of the enlightenment that makes religion an institutional affiliation, and only then can one connect with God. The religious views in the songs of innocence poems considered by many unorthodox made Blake famous and associated with mystic traditions (Tomlinson, 2016).
Play
In the Hamlet Play, Shakespeare brings out the fundamental problems that dominated the society during the renaissance after the dominant catholic religion fragmented to have the protestant. The fragmentation resulted in people getting confused and questioning religion's role, which Hamlet criticizes throughout the Hamlet play. Religious innocence and purity are expounded in the songs of innocence poem collection by William Blake, which in the Hamlet play through characters like Hamlet and Ophelia. Hamlet undermines the religious innocence and putty of Ophelia (Desmet, 2018). He sees it as hypocrisy because of her disregard for the faith. Hamlet's play is during a period when religion was characterized by confusion and disbelief after splitting. Ophelia is a person who takes instructions from men. The relationship with these men causes her death. In the poem songs of innocence, happiness is described as a gift from God and not through men (Desmet, 2018).
Conclusion
Ophelia and Hamlet's help bring out the religious theme in the play The Hamlet. William Blake brings out religion in all his Songs of innocence collection. The two have a difference in structure as one is a play and the other a poem. In the Hamlet play, the religion theme is direct, while in the Songs of innocence poem collection, the religion theme is not open and direct. However, both want to create awareness in the minds of the audience. Both the Hamlet and the Songs of Innocence poem have a distinct way of addressing issue existing in the community.
