Religion today isn't quite what it was back in Shakespeare's time. For most people, it's the last thing that crosses their minds when they cheat on a test or lie to the people they love. Adolescents especially put little or no thought into the spiritual consequences that come with committing a sin. For example, people have come to believe that "little white lies", which are meant to be minor or "harmless", is absolutely normal and sometimes encouraged. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, religion has a much greater importance in people's lives and plays an important role in creating the plot and to some extent, causes conflict.
In the Elizabethan Era, religion had a much higher priority than it does today. In Velz's critical essay, he wrote, "there is irrefutable evidence that William Shakespeare was more than merely single-minded about religion" ("On bards, bibles and bears: on Shakespeare and religion"). According to Velz's article, William Shakespeare was a regular attendant at the Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Stratford, where he listened to readings in the liturgy from the Bishops Bible. Shakespeare often referred to the Bishops Bible in his plays, and according to Velz, "some 85 amens" have been found in his writings ("Some Amens in Shakespeare"). However, it is believed that although Shakespeare heard the Bishops Bible readings, he never saw the text himself. Shakespeare frequently alludes to the biblical story of Cain and Abel in Hamlet. "O, my offence is rank it smells to heaven; It hath the primal eldest curse upon't, a brother's murder" (3.3.3). Like Claudius, Cain murders his brother out of envy. He and Abel both offered a sacrifice to God, and when God rejects Cain's sacrifice, he responds by meeting his brother in the fields and killing him. However, "despite this evil, Cain seems to receive all God's care, and his righteous brother, like Hamlet, seemed to suffer God's neglect" (Stump).
