What an insightful
question!
The dead king in Shakespeare's
Hamlet, is Hamlet's father, Old Hamlet. (This is the Ghost; he
appears repeatedly, urging Hamlet to avenge his murder by
Claudius.)
The unresolved hierarchy refers to the
Elizabethan's belief in the Chain of Being. This was something that placed all things on
earth in a specific order, like a caste system. God was at the top, then probably
angels, and then the King, followed thereafter by other nobles, commoners, peasants, and
even inanimate objects. The rose is at the top of its chain, the lion is at the op of
its chain, and gold is above all other metals.
When a king
was murdered (as is the case with Old Hamlet, and even Duncan in
Macbeth) there was a disruption to the order of the universe. This
caused strange things to occur. In Hamlet, the Ghost appears. In
Macbeth, there are earthquakes, an eclipse, and unusual behavior
within the animal kingdom.
The Elizabethans believed that
order would not be restored until the rightful king was on the throne, as God ordained
who should be king. In essence, it was a sin against God for a human to remove a king
from the throne: only God could do this. (This idea still existed in the time of King
George who saw himself as a monarch by "divine right," ordained by
God.
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