Abstract
The Decalogue, the collective term for the Ten Commandments, plays a major role in both character development and plot structure in two of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies, Hamlet and Macbeth. In these two works, nine of the Ten Commandments are broken through the course of each play. The Decalogue serves as a plot device; because the Ten Commandments are embedded in the subconscious of most of Shakespeare's audience members and, as moral rules, they are used as a paradigm of what is right or wrong, good or evil. In this way, Shakespeare's audiences, although not consciously aware, use the Ten Commandments as a means of judge the characters.
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