Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

HOW MACHIAVELLIAN DO YOU LIKE YOUR POLONIUS? In Shakespeare's Hamlet, how much Machiavelli should we imagine in the king's key adviser, Polonius? Is Polonius an aging and self-absorbed old man— a bootlicker too concerned about his daughter’s virginity? (Then why is he the key adviser?) Or is he a manipulator who purposefully withholds his daughter's affections so they will be more desired by Hamlet, so that the match will get royal approval, and so that she might marry into royalty? (Does he lead Gertrude to want her son’s heart mended by the return of Ophelia’s once-denied love, so his daughter will then be the next queen —implied perhaps in the David Tennant version?) In 2.2, Polonius is certain that the denial of his daughter's affections has caused Hamlet's madness, in spite of Claudius' inclinations otherwise. In 3.1, Gertrude, manipulated by Polonius, says, "for your part, Ophelia, I do wish That your good beauties be the happy cause

HAMLET, WITTENBERG, & . . . FAUST? A trend among scholars of Shakespeare & Religion is to view Hamlet as a Protestant v. Catholic play: The ghost regrets not receiving Catholic sacraments before death, and the prince goes to school in Wittenberg (of Luther fame). But Marlowe's Wittenbergian, Faust, is not so often cited by scholars seeking hints of Catholic or Protestant ideas in the play. If we expand the Catholic-Protestant binary at least to three (Wittenberg-Luther-Faust), then Wittenberg points not only to Luther, but to temptation. Hamlet is tempted to revenge and madness, but perhaps (according to some) recovers a bit after his sea voyage. Luther questioned how literally Catholics should take Jesus' words over the break and wine, "This is my body/blood." A good question. But this opens a can of worms (no Diet of Worms pun intended, but—OK). If we don't take eucharist literally as a "real presence," then why should we ta

Of the many aspects of Branagh's Hamlet that critics noted, one involved images of Hamlet and Ophelia, naked in bed (plucking the heart from the mystery of the question of whether they had been lovers, or whether—as Ophelia tells her father—Hamlet had merely expressed his love in "honorable fashion").  Another involves the entry of an attacking Fortinbras at the end of the play, with an army. An older tradition assumes Ophelia is a virtuous, virginal and obedient daughter who alludes to scripture in conversation with her brother, but as women were considered the "weaker vessel" (a-hem), she goes insane and perhaps (contrary to Gertrude's account?) commits suicide. Others have noted the presence of abortifacient herbs among the flowers she names in her mad scene, and claim that she is pregnant with Hamlet's child, but that this could not be stated explicitly due to the censors. Another old tradition likes to believe that the diplomatic overtures 

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR HAMLET? Madman? Privileged drop-out? The Man-who-would-have-been-king? Examination of just three film actors in the role of Shakespeare's Hamlet since the 1990s (Branagh, Hawke, Tennant) reveals distinctly different approaches to casting and portraying the prince.  Kenneth Branagh: It is easy to imagine Branagh as a prince who could have made a good king, and that Claudius "Popp'd in between the election and [his] hopes." It's also easy to see how he may have been "loved of the distracted multitude" (4.3). Ethan Hawke: Hawke plays an angst-filled hipster, a privileged drop-out caught in a cul-de-sac of life ("Denmark's a prison"). It seems he has little interest in being king and may prefer Occupy Wall Street (kudos for that). It's easy to see why the board of directors prefers Claudius. Perhaps loved mostly by hipster students among the distracted multitude? David Tennant: Tennant's Hamlet is

Ophelia was hoping for some quality time with Hamlet after the chaos of the show, listening to "I Think We're Alone Now," an Elizabethan madrigal cover of the song by Tommy James and the Shondells. But it was "not to be." (This image has been on Twitter since at least July, and Reddit since at least April) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Links to a description of my book project: On LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/eJGBtqV On this blog: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/05/hamlets-bible-my-book-project-im.html [Originally posted around the week of 9/15/17 on LinkedIn ]

Nothing male or female but thinking makes it so? To paraphrase Shakespeare's Hamlet: Is there nothing male or female but thinking makes it so? (Or when Hamlet spoke the original line to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, "nothing good or bad," was he feigning, playing a role, pulling their chain?) Although not the norm, there have been notable productions of Hamlet in the last two centuries in which the prince haas been played by an actress, Sarah Bernhardt's performance in a 1900 film adaptation being one of the more famous. Some productions rotate actors through key parts; this was the case in the recent Guthrie production of King Lear in Minneapolis, where two excellent actors took turns playing the role of Lear. A Great Lakes Theater production of Hamlet in Cleveland has one male actor and one female actor take turns with the role of the prince (not in the same show, but on different nights). . . . After "The Mousetrap" play-within-the-play, Hamlet

Richard Utz: Race, Racism, and the Middle Ages When Shakespeare fans and scholars speak of antisemitism and racism, they often talk of The Merchant of Venice (with its shylock the Jew), Othello (with a black Muslim as its title character), and The Tempest (with its "savage" Caliban) for starters. Richard Utz and "friends at The Public Medievalist" have assembled a wonderful and thought-provoking list of readings more related to the Middle Ages than Shakespeare, but some of my connections may find it interesting and helpful. It is intended in part to counter the tendencies of certain people of the far right to hijack the Middle Ages (via arm-chair revisionism) for white supremacy. - PF https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/race-racism-middle-ages-richard-utz/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Links to a description of my book project: On LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/eJGBtqV On this blog: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/05/hamlets-bible-my-bo

Freud claimed that Hamlet had an Oedipus complex, but Shakespeare may have had the biblical King David more in mind. —Hamlet killed his uncle in the end, but not to marry Mom (she’s already dead). Oedipus unknowingly kills his father and marries his mother; David knowingly arranges for Uriah to die in battle (2 Sam 11:14-17) to marry Bathsheba. Both marry the wife of their respective victims. Both are confronted about the truth of their actions later by a prophet-figure (Oedipus, by the blind seer Tiresias; David, by the prophet Nathan). Note some of the David parallels in Hamlet: —Claudius is like David: both kill quite intentionally to marry the victim's wife, and Claudius may have had an affair with Gertrude before King Hamlet's death, like David did with Bathsheba. —Hamlet complains that his mother and uncle have not mourned long enough for the death of King Hamlet. Similarly, after learning that his son by Bathsheba is sick, David fasts and prays for seven days,

Freud claimed Hamlet had an Oedipus complex, but Shakespeare seems to have had the biblical King David more in mind. —Claudius is like King David: both kill to marry the victim's wife; Claudius may have had an affair with Gertrude before King Hamlet's death, like David with Bathsheba. —Hamlet complains that his mother and uncle have not mourned long for the death of King Hamlet; after learning that his son is sick, David fasts and prays for seven days, but on learning that the child has died, he ends his mourning with disturbing speed (2 Sam 12:18-23). —Hamlet pretends to be mad to deflect a threat; so does David (1 Sam 21:13). —Hamlet uses a play to "catch the conscience of the king" (3.2). Nathan used a story to catch the conscience of King David (2 Sam 12:1-9). —Hamlet spares Claudius (3.3) at prayer (but with dark motives); David spared King Saul when he had the chance to kill him (1 Sam 24). —Claudius sends a letter with Hamlet to have him exec

King Lear & Colin Kaepernick: Colin Kaepernick was just an overpaid athlete in a sports system that abuses the health of players in exchange for big money. But his choice not to stand for the national anthem was like the start #of Shakespeare's #KingLear, when Lear asks his daughters which of them is willing to put on the most convincing outward show (of a family love version of patriotism) for him. Daughters Goneril and Regan try to outdo one another with flags and fawning and "support the troops" bumperstickers. They care more about the outward show than about sincerity, faithfulness, or love. Lear's most beloved daughter, Cordelia, will have none of that foolishness. She wants to take a knee or sit or hold a protest sign during the King Lear national anthem. She gets banished, of course. She marries French royalty, where Freedom Fries come from. And then she comes back later to try to save her father, who is being mistreated by the more o