Priest (Doctor of Divinity)

[This is an annotated list of all appearances and all mentions of this character.]

Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury (1559-1575)

"Her obsequies have been as far enlarged / As we have warranty: her death was doubtful" (5.1.226-227), replies the priest when Laertes asks if there won't be more "ceremony" at Ophelia's funeral. The priest, suspecting that Ophelia committed suicide, is resentful that Opehlia is being buried in sanctified ground.

In some editions, this character will be identified as "First Priest" or "Doctor of Divinity." "First Priest" is probably the most accurate, but there doesn't seem to be much reason for the presence of a second or third priest. "Doctor of Divinity" is the invention of Edward Capell, an eighteenth-century editor of Shakespeare. [Scene Summary]