Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

GENERAL INFORMATION: Ten Commandments in Hamlet (Series) [1] Much attention has been given to iconoclasm (destruction of sacred or allegedly idolatrous images) in England during the reformation, but less to how such images and artifacts were effectively replaced by royal injunctions of Elizabeth I in 1561 requiring the Ten Commandments (Decalogue) to be posted on the eastern wall of every church [2]. Statues, carvings, wall paintings, and stained glass had once shown angels, demons, scenes from biblical stories and the lives of saints, appealing to collective memory and to the imagination. In iconoclastic acts of erasure, these were replaced by the Decalogue, appealing more to the logical mind, the superego, the rule of law, and fear of punishment.  Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet , not only demonstrates the violation of all of these, but also may refer to the sometimes resented replacement of icons with commandment boards.  Commandments were posted for all the faithful to see, ...

Shakespeare’s Hamlet demonstrates the violation of all of the Ten Commandments, and may also refer to the sometimes resented iconoclastic replacement of images (statues, paintings, sometimes stained glass) with commandment boards.  I will add to this SERIES INDEX as I post new installments.  SERIES INDEX  https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2026/07/series-index-ten-commandments-in-hamlet.html GENERAL INTRODUCTION https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2026/07/general-information-ten-commandments-in.html HAMLET’S ICONOCLAM AND THE GHOST'S COMMAND: Prelude English churches followed the Protestant (not Catholic) numbering of the commandments: 1. "THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BUT ME."  2. "THOU SHALT NOT MAKE TO THYSELF ANY GRAVEN IMAGE."  3. "THOU SHALT NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD THY GOD IN VAIN."  4. "REMEMBER TO KEEP HOLY THE SABBATH DAY." 5. "HONOR THY FATHER AND THY MOTHER." 6. "THOU SHALT DO NO MURDER."  7. "TH...

My last post was on "Works vs. Faith" [1], relating to Hamlet changing the death letter on his ship to England. Salvation by faith and/or works was a hot topic in Shakespeare’s England, much less so today. But an analogy can be found in economics: - Some advocate Laissez-faire (or “free-market”) economics with minimal guidelines or interventions, a materialistic parallel of salvation by faith. - Others advocate managed economics (like democratic socialism). This is like faith plus works: basic faith in the system, but more “works” regulating it, and more social safety net to level the playing field. Some critics and scholars note a reference to a faith vs. works in Act 1, scene 4, when Hamlet wants to follow the ghost and commands his friends not to stop him: MARCELLUS: Let’s follow. ’Tis not fit thus to obey him. HORATIO: Have after. To what issue will this come? MARCELLUS: Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. HORATIO: Heaven will direct it. MARCELLUS: Nay, let’s f...

PART 2 of 2 NOW AVAILABLE In mid-May, Philip Rowe, the host of the podcast, The History of European Theatre , asked me to be a guest on his podcast. I was delighted. Philip's podcast series has more than 260 episodes covering a wide range of subjects, and he has interviewed an impressive list of guests, including Kristen McDermott, Steve Sohmer, Rob Eastaway, Darren Freebury-Jones, Susan D Amussen, Roberta Barker, Robert Crighton, Rachel Aanstad, Colin David Rees, Iman Sheeha, Laurie Johnson, Katherine Sheil, Cassidy Cash, and Ian McCormick, to name just a few in recent years. After some planning, on June 10, we recorded a conversation about Shakespeare's use of biblical allusions, especially in Hamlet . Philip edited the interview into two episodes. My previous post about part 1 of these interviews can be found here:  https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2026/07/july-13-interview-1-of-2-with-philip.html I'm very happy that Philip found and liked my blog, honored to...

When Shakespeare's Hamlet was first produced, a hot topic in reformation England was faith vs. works: Are we justified in the eyes of heaven by our faith, or our works? All English Christians (Catholic, Protestant, and others) used bible translations featuring St. Paul who wrote of salvation by faith (e.g. Romans 3:28, 5:1; Galatians 2:16). But a letter of James said that "faith without works is dead" (2:14-26) and that "a person is justified by works and not by faith alone" (v.24). This apparent contradiction is similar to what Shakespeare's Richard II notes while imprisoned, comparing what seem to be incompatible scripture phrases: "...thoughts of things divine, are intermixed With scruples, and do set the word itself Against the word..." (5.5.12-14). On faith v. works, Protestants preferred Paul's formulations, while Catholics preferred James. Events on Hamlet's sea voyage relate to this debate without ever using the words “faith” or “...

Thanks to all who wished me a happy birthday (July 5) over the past few days! I really appreciate it. This year I received a Hamlet card, featuring Shakespeare telling the skull of Yorick that he hasn't aged a day. Very appropriate! (And courtesy of the Huntington Library and Museum in Los Angeles, California...) For those of you who don't yet know, I was asked to be a guest on Philip Rowe's The History of European Theatre podcast; this will be two episodes, starting with the first on July 13. For more information, see my previous blog post here:  https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2026/07/july-13-interview-1-of-2-with-philip.html

In mid-May, Philip Rowe, the host of the podcast, The History of European Theatre , asked me to be a guest on his podcast. I was delighted. Philip's podcast series has more than 260 episodes covering a wide range of subjects, and he has interviewed an impressive list of guests, including Kristen McDermott, Steve Sohmer, Rob Eastaway, Darren Freebury-Jones, Susan D Amussen, Roberta Barker, Robert Crighton, Rachel Aanstad, Colin David Rees, Iman Sheeha, Laurie Johnson, Katherine Sheil, Cassidy Cash, and Ian McCormick, to name just a few in recent years. After some planning, on June 10, we recorded a conversation about Shakespeare's use of biblical allusions, especially in Hamlet . Philip edited the interview into two episodes. I'm very happy that Philip found and liked my blog, honored to be a guest, and greatly enjoyed the conversation. In the first of these two episodes we talk more generally about Shakespeare and the Bible, and in the second (release date to be ann...

Shakespeare's Hamlet offers glimpses of two ways of transcending dysfunctional parentage: a) The limited path of Freud's Oedipal complex, or b) Yorick and the paths of Francis of Assisi and Bernard of Clairvaux. In the first, the son kills the father-figure to reclaim a lost closeness to the mother. If the father is a tyrant and the son resorts to violence to replace him, this is a very limited, temporary transcendence, with the son too much like the father he replaces [1]. Francisco and Bernardo are the names of sentinels, the first two characters on stage in the play. Together, they are the names of the Pazzi assassins [2], but individually they are names of saints: - Francis of Assisi and Bernard of Clairvaux didn't kill their fathers, but Francis famously renounced his abusive father before the bishop, stripping off his clothes and giving them back to his father, saying that he had a father in heaven. - St. Bernard’s biological father and brothers eventually joined t...

Does Shakespeare use Hamlet’s remarks about women’s “painted faces” to expose misogyny in official English Protestant sermons? Hamlet complains to Ophelia that he knows of the “paintings” she, and women in general, make when they take the one face God gave them and make themselves another. This may represent more than merely a cruel and misogynistic Hamlet, mistreating a former love. Hamlet is quoting almost word-for-word similar statements in a homily of the time. Not by a fringe preacher who made misogynistic remarks about women: An official Elizabethan homily [1]. Claudius uses the analogy of “The harlot's cheek, beautied with plast'ring art,” to describe his “deed” of having killed his brother, covered by lies (3.1.59-62). All acted out by actors who put on faces other than those God gave them, with make-up. This theme may be very related to England’s iconoclasm and the white-washing of old images in churches [2]. Shakespeare - who created many strong female characters in...

English audiences - after recent attempted invasions by the Spanish Armada, and anticipating more - may have felt Hamlet was their hero, to change Claudius’ secret letter that ordered Hamlet's death so that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are executed instead. Early audiences may have opposed any suggestion of oppression by a foreign power, Spanish or Danish. Hamlet and his former school-friends-turned-spies had been sent by Claudius, who claimed they must collect England’s "neglected tribute" (3.1), like insurance payments to organized crime: Pay, and we won't hurt you. It may have seemed to them satisfying that the rebellious, "mad" Danish prince would change the letter intended to bring about his own death, so that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern would be executed by the very English from whom the three were told to collect this tribute. Although Elizabeth prohibited speculation about her successor, many knew that James of Scotland, who had married Princess A...

MORE PARTICIPANTS AT SAA DENVER 2026 My previous post named members in my seminar (Shakespeare and the Forms of Religion), but I met many other wonderful scholars in Denver for The Shakespeare Association of America 2026 conference. Here are six more:  TOP (L-R):  EVELYN GAJOWSKI is an author and one of the most prolific Shakespeare essay collection editors today. [1]  ARNIE PERLSTEIN has long been a strong supporter of my work, and was presenting in a workshop on the afterlives of The Taming the Shrew. His focus was on Shakespeare’s influence on Jane Austen in works like Pride and Prejudice and he has a blog about Jane Austen’s works. [2] RICHARD STRIER (emeritus, U. of Chicago) has written a number of books that have had a profound effect on my thinking [3]. Strier nicely distinguishes between common scholarly assumptions and facts related to texts:  “Interpretive conclusions, even widely held ones, do not become facts. That Hamlet delays in killing Claudius is a...

It was a great pleasure to attend the April 2026 conference of the Shakespeare Association of America in Denver, Colorado, and to participate in a 9 am Thursday seminar on April 2 titled “Shakespeare and the Forms of Religion,” along with an exceptional group of scholars. These included (top, left-to-right): Sean M. Benson (University of Mary Hardin-Baylor), who wrote about holy fools in a number of Shakespeare’s comedies, drawing on Erasmus and his idea of folly; James E. Berg (Middlebury College), who wrote about the Buddhist idea of “no mind” as a lens through which to view Romeo and Juliet; Paul Adrian Fried (yours truly), on often-overlooked biblical allusions or plot echoes in 𝘏𝘢𝘮𝘭𝘦𝘵 and their implications for expanding a taxonomy of such references; and (bottom, left-to-right): Trina Hyun (SUNY University at Buffalo), who wrote about Golding’s (mis-?) translation of Ovid and the idea of grace in Antony and Cleopatra; Joseph Navitsky (Champlain College, Saint-Lambert), wh...

Divine right of monarchs is challenged by Shakespeare's scripture allusions, especially in Hamlet. 1. When Hamlet spares Claudius at prayer [1], this echos of 1 Samuel 24 and 26, where David has chances to kill King Saul, but will not raise a hand against “God’s anointed.” - But years before Saul’s death, Saul acted badly and fell to disfavor with God, whose prophet chose David as successor (1 Sam 16) while Saul was still alive. This challenges unrestricted divine right.  2. St. Paul in Romans 13 urges obedience to rulers, as it is their job to maintain civil order, but does not include obedience to immoral orders of tyrants [2]. 3. Darren Freebury-Jones recently noted key ideas from John Neville Figgis’ book on the Divine Right of Kings, [3], including that the monarch is accountable to God alone. 4. More fundamentally, however, scriptures quote Jesus as saying, “whatever you do unto the least of these, you do unto me” [4]. By this logic, when monarchs treat “the least” badly, t...