Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

It is often said that Laertes is a foil for Hamlet. Hamlet says he sees his own image in Laertes: But I am very sorry, good Horatio, That to Laertes I forgot myself, For by the image of my cause I see The portraiture of his. (5.2.85-88) Later in the scene, the word “foil” is used five times, usually by Hamlet, punning on foil as weapon and as mirror image. Jesus claimed that the greatest commandment is to love God, and the second, "like it," to love neighbor as self (Mark 12:28-31; Matthew 22:34-40). One’s neighbor may be a sort of concrete local manifestation of God, “the least of these,” or of transcendence and mystery. To love neighbor as self, one must look with compassion and be willing and able to see oneself in one’s neighbor. But how might Hamlet see his image in Laertes? How might we? Consider seven ways, the last of which Hamlet may recognize only too late: 1. Both have fathers unjustly killed, and both are inclined toward revenge. 2. Hamlet would have preferred to

HAMLET AS PRODIGAL (OEDIPAL SPELLED BADLY) OEDIPAL [1]: Freud claimed that men want to kill their fathers and possess their mothers, like Oedipus, whose father (Laius) was in fact a jerk. Laius made bad karma, abandoning his son to die.[2] - Oedipus doesn't know he was saved and adopted, so he thinks the prophecy means he will kill his adoptive father and marry his adoptive mother. He doesn't want that, so he flees. - While fleeing, his biological father is cruel to him on the road, and Oedipus kills him, not knowing it is his father. - Having suffered trauma as a child, Oedipus may be lashing out in revenge at a stranger who happens to be his father. All fathers die, most before their sons. But the tale is also a metaphor for how children need to establish their own identities as distinct from their parents (though some sons may "want a girl / just like the girl / that married dear old Dad," as the song says.[3]) We can follow Freud and read Hamlet as Oedipal. PRODIG

On Instagram, botanicalshakespeare (whose posts I love) reminds us recently of the change in calendar required by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, which meant that on what would have been October 5, continental Europe leaped ahead by 10 days, making it, instead, October 15. Shakespeare may have had this in mind (among many other things, like incest, usurpation, murder and corruption) when he decided to have Hamlet say, “The time is out of joint” (1.5) botanicalshakespeare notes: "…or at least it was in 1582 when the pontifical states switched calendars -from Julian to Gregorian (not Gregory I of chanting fame, this is Pope Gregory XIII) - and skipped ahead 10 days… but England decided to keep those extra days for a while 😉 — till 1752!" This might be fodder for some who insist that Shakespeare was Catholic, and who might claim that a Catholic Shakespeare may have supported the "fixing" of an out-of-joint time by making Protestant England Catholic again. But in fact, th

"...'Every man by nature is and ought to be his own friend'. Whereas the excessive love of self is in reality the source to each man of all offenses; for the lover is blinded about the beloved, so that he judges wrongly of the just, the good, and the honorable, and thinks that he ought always to prefer himself to the truth." - Plato Laws, c. 360 B.C.E Consider using this as context and historical background for the advice of Polonius to his son Laertes in Shakespeare's Hamlet: "This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day. Thou canst not then be false to any man." (1.3.84-86) Polonius also seems narcissistic and miserly, advising his son, "Neither a borrower nor a lender be..." (1.3.81), and having learned that Ophelia has been "most free and bounteous" of her time spent with Hamlet (1.3.101-2), urges that she should "tender" herself "more dearly" (1.3.116), or in other words,

As it appears in Hamlet, the poisoned cup is not the same as some examples mentioned in my last post: Although these can shed light, Claudius and Laertes use deception, concealing their poisons. This is an important key. This is not the case with Socrates, nor with Sophonisba (suicides). Deception is an element involved in the gift of the Trojan Horse and the attempted poisoning of Merlin, St. John, and Theseus. For John Knox, Catholic Eucharist was also (in his mind) a kind of deception as well as a poison [1]. For John Knox, Catholic Eucharist was also (in his mind) a kind of deception as well as a poison [1]. The poisoned cup of Claudius can be viewed as a profound violation of the hospitality it appears to embody. As such, the deception of a seeming gift or gesture of hospitality is itself poisonous. This is important in light of the recurring theme of hospitality that runs through Hamlet: - Sometimes hospitality is neglected, as in the Lazarus-Rich Man allusion (by the Ghost) [2

Today, “poison cup” can be a way to describe having been given a task that may be one’s undoing [1]. But what was the history of “poison cup” in Shakespeare’s time? These are words found in Shakespeare's Macbeth (1.7), but a plot idea used earlier in his Hamlet. "Poisoned cup" is related to "Trojan horse": looks like a gift, but will bring doom. A poisoned cup brought death for Socrates (state-ordered suicide). Scottish reformer John Knox (1514-1572) said that one (Catholic) Mass is worse than a cup of poison in Protestant-Catholic transubstantiation debates, the phrase an example of anti-Catholic polemics. In fact, it's even older: In a legend told by St. Isidore (c. 560 – 636), St. John (of Patmos) the Apostle had an encounter with a poisoned cup of wine, and (miraculously?) survived, perhaps warned of poison by a serpent. In Greek mythology and Hebrew scripture: The rod of Asclepius, associated with healing, features a snake, and Asclepius' daughter H

I have a long list of topics to cover related to Shakespeare and Hamlet in coming months, including another book review, a few reviews of Minnesota Shakespeare productions, and new series or two... But for now, it's nice to stumble upon a Hamlet joke or two every now and then! Three Hamlet Jokes on X (formerly Twitter) with references to lines or key words in the play: Benedict Nelson: Woman on radio 4 was just talking about her dog, ‘Hamlet’ and I said “presumably a Great Dane”, [1] and got nothing from my family. Not even a smirk. jack furness (reply): they've obviously lost all their mirth [2] Richard Gillin (reply): When I say that sort of thing they just tell me I’m a pain in the arras.[3] NOTES: [1] See Hamlet in graveyard (5.1), "It is I, Hamlet the Dane!" [2] See Hamlet in 2.2, "I have of late- but wherefore I know not- lost all my mirth..." [3] See 3.4, Polonius hides behind the arras, cries out; Hamlet says, "A rat!" and stabs the uns

I own both a paperback edition and a kindle edition of Michael Brett's book of poems, Tomorrow It Will All Run Backwards - Modern War Poetry . It is not often that I purchase a second copy of a book I already own to put on my kindle, but I liked this collection of poems so much, I wanted easy access when I travel. The book's subtitle, "Modern War Poetry," is at least in part deceiving. Throughout the book, Brett weaves a spell that includes not only the horrors of war, but also everyday scenes, and moments that span history and continents. This collection transcends easy categorization, but is also profoundly moving, imaginative, and thought-provoking, filled with tricks of wordplay that seem simple on the surface but release their energy and insights like depth charges. The book is divided into three sections: 1. Easdale Island By Oban, Argyll, Scotland 1974-80 2. The Information Centre of Bosnia-Herzegovina, London 1990-5 3. London 2000-2015 The collection include

Peter Milward (1925-2017) makes an interesting point about the growth of academic jargon ("gobbledygook") in scholarly writing. Milward is the author of Biblical Influences in Shakespeare's Great Tragedies (1987), which is helpful in some ways that similar books by other authors sometimes are not. The following quote is from Milward's review of a book by Gillian Wood (whose work I've enjoyed), Shakespeare's Unreformed Fictions: ...maybe she is content, or her publisher is content, with a readership of like-minded scholars as being (in Milton’s words) a ‘fit audience, though but few’. All too evidently, she likes to puzzle or muddle the general reader with such phrases as ‘characterological interiority’ (p. 129), ‘disjunctions in the drama’s representational logic’ (p. 170), ‘the ontological confusion inherent in the moment of animation’ (p. 181), and ‘the axiomatic knowledge of the binary distinction’ (p. 201). Admittedly, these phrases make more sense in thei

How is Shakespeare’s Hamlet produced/received/avoided in Israel? [1] "Being European: 'Hamlet' on the Israeli Stage" (Reut Barzilai 2020) [2] notes: Israeli productions often avoid connections between the play's themes and Israel/Palestine. Consider these themes: LONGSTANDING THREATS OF FOREIGN ATTACK, QUESTIONS OF LAND CLAIM LEGITIMACY: Norway and Denmark fought; Old Fortinbras was killed, Norway defeated; Denmark won land; Young Fortinbras wants lands back that Denmark had taken. Norway can be an analogue for Palestine; Denmark, for Israel. In the end, all Danish royalty kill one other; a dying Hamlet wants Fortinbras to take Denmark's throne. Israel wants to avoid such a fate. REVENGE / RETALIATION: The ghost of Hamlet’s father bids his son to avenge. This causes many deaths. In Israel: Palestinian deaths / injuries by far outnumber those of Israel since the 10/07/23 Hamas attacks and Israeli retaliation [3] (also true of past conflicts [4]): Israeli deaths

INDEX: Character Arcs: Labors of Gratitude & Regret in Hamlet (Aug. - Dec. 2019) In the second half of 2019, I did a series in which I considered character arcs in Hamlet, using ideas adapted from a Lewis Hyde chapter on “The Labor of Gratitude,” expanding this to include also labors of regret. Posts in this series: Part 1: Gifts & Labors of Gratitude in Hansel & Gretel - (before Hamlet) - 8/12/19 https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/08/lewis-hyde-on-labor-of-gratitude.html Part 2: Hamlet's Descent & Arc Toward Mercy (Labors of Gratitude and Regret) - 8/19/19 https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/08/labors-of-gratitude-and-regret-in-hamlet.html Part 3: Polonius' Labor of Regret - 8/26/19 https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/08/polonius-his-labor-of-regret.html Part 4: Into Dad's Circle of Fear & Flattery: Laertes' Labors of Gratitude & Regret, 1.2 - 9/3/19 https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/09/laertes-dyna

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Shakespeare's age was marked in part by a Protestant-Catholic feud echoed perhaps in the feud between Capulets and Montagues in Romeo and Juliet . Dennis Taylor (author of Shakespeare and the Elizabethan Reformation: Literary Negotiation of Religious Difference ), has a web page of notes[1] (from which the following is taken) related to Shakespeare and Catholic-Protestant issues; under the year 1984, he has this interesting note on some ideas from Paul Tillich, which may offer a refreshing alternative to the Elizabethan Protestant-Catholic conflict: ~~~~~ Tillich, The Protestant Era: “The decrease in sacramental thinking and feeling in the churches of the Reformation and in the American denominations is appalling. Nature has lost its religious meaning and is excluded [from] participation in the power of salvation … The Protestant protest has rightly destroyed the magical elements in Catholic sacramentalism but has wrongly brought to the verge of disappearance the sacramental foun