Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

In the David Tennant Hamlet, in the final scene, Hamlet tries to stab Claudius with the "envenomed" sword, but Claudius (played by Patrick Stewart), ever trying to maintain control, grasps the blade that Hamlet is wielding (perhaps still poisoned). Hamlet pulls and Claudius cuts his hand. People at court cry "Treason," and some (not all) rush to restrain Hamlet from hurting the king. But this restraint keeps Hamlet from forcing the rest of the poison wine down Claudius' throat, which is a sort of long-standing tradition, and which some claim goes back to the original performances (but which some dispute). So how does Claudius get the cup? Hamlet offers it, Claudius takes it. Claudius realizes his game is up, he's been exposed as a murderer and coward (not stopping Gertrude from drinking), and he has no more reason to live. He drinks of his own volition, choosing the "Roman" way of suicide that Hamlet soon asks Horatio to reject. In the 1988...

A KING WITH TOO MANY HATS? In Shakespeare's Hamlet, for four centuries, readers and viewers have noted the confusion of roles Claudius tries to assume. After insulting the prince in a variety of ways for mourning too long (1.2), he calls Hamlet "most immediate to our throne," "Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son." Claudius tries not only to be king and uncle, but critic and father as well. Later, to highlight this and the "one flesh" marriage union, Hamlet twice calls Claudius his "mother" (4.3). What about "pope"? The play was written 65-70 years after England's break from Rome. Henry VIII asserted himself as head of England's church and granted his own divorce, usurping the role of religious leader for England's Christians that the pope had played. This created what Rome viewed as a schism, a new division in Christendom where there had previously been more unity of authority, belief, and ritual. In the...

DO HAMLET'S MASKS INCLUDE MELANCHOLIC MISOGYNY? In an article from the 1995 edition of Hamlet Studies, Francesca Bugliani (Knox) interprets Hamlet's famous "To be or not to be" soliloquy. She does not consider biblical allusions, like Job's dilemma of whether to remain faithful to his God, or to curse God and die (a sort of "to be or not to be" crossroads). But she has a wealth of insightful observations. I've said before that I don't buy the Freudian explanation for Hamlet's apparent misogyny to Gertrude and Ophelia, but the Christian biblical and cultural tradition in which the play was written was certainly patriarchal and misogynist. Bugliani suggests it's melancholic misogyny, and may be one of many forms of feigned madness. But why feign melancholy misogyny with Ophelia? To sound her out, suspecting she's working with the enemy? To push her away from the threat to his life? (Or both?) In contemplating revenge and the sinfu...

Meet me in St. Louie? (for Hamlet) St. Louis Dispatch ARTS AND THEATER At last, the Rep goes big with Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' By Judith Newmark St. Louis Post-Dispatch Oct 8, 2017 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 10/10/17 on LinkedIn ]

In Shakespeare's Hamlet, do we want Gertrude to suspect poison in the "chalice" of wine into which Claudius drops a fine pearl? Or not? Various critics (like J. Dover Wilson in his book, "What Happens in Hamlet") have claimed that an older tradition believes Queen Gertrude likes immediate gratification of her desires. To them, this explains in part why she marries her dead husband's brother so quickly (get me sex!), and why she drinks the cup of wine that Hamlet refuses (she claims she's thirsty), in spite of the urgings from Claudius for her not to do so. In the Kenneth Branagh Hamlet and the Franco Zeffirelli Hamlet (starring Mel Gibson), Gertrude in both of these films seems unsuspecting of poison, and is later shocked at the realization of Claudius' foul play as the poison takes effect. But in both the David Tennant version and the Ethan Hawke version, the queen clearly suspects poison, and clearly volunteers herself (and risks her life). ...

“This is a very weird time in the world...." (Kazuro Ishiguro winds the Nobel prize in literature 2017— article from The Guardian ) “This is a very weird time in the world, we’ve sort of lost faith in our political system, we’ve lost faith in our leaders, we’re not quite sure of our values, and I just hope that my winning the Nobel prize contributes something that engenders good will and peace,” he said. “ It reminds us of how international the world is, and we all have to contribute things from our different corners of the world.” - Kazuro Ishiguro https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/oct/05/kazuo-ishiguro-wins-the-nobel-prize-in-literature ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 10/5/17 on LinkedIn ]

A few weeks back, I listed ways that Shakespeare’s Hamlet parallels the biblical King David more than the Oedipus tale, and especially to the story of David's infidelity with Bathsheba and his arranging for the death of Bathsheba’s husband so he can marry her. (To view that very brief article, click here.) Some may wonder: Why would there be so many allusions to the biblical King David in Hamlet? There are three important things to remember while contemplating these parallels with the King David story in Hamlet: First, bear in mind that people in Shakespeare's time could not openly criticize the government. Playwrights had to say things indirectly, or risk being caught by the censors and punished by the state. Second, recall that Shakespeare wrote the play at the end of Elizabeth's life, and was probably using certain events in the play's fictional setting in Denmark as analogies for various things about the end of the House of Tudor, most notably, Henry VIII an...

I have posted a new article about Hamlet and King David Below is the link to my new article about Hamlet, the biblical King David, and Henry VIII: On LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hamlet-king-david-part-ii-paul-adrian-fried/?trackingId=gNgP1NASMbRZuXApS%2BEbng%3D%3D On this blog: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/10/Hamlet-David-pt2-HenryVIII-2blame.html [Shakespeare uses Hamlet and King Claudius to demonstrate some connections with the David stories, and these would have been seen by audiences as implying connections with Henry VIII as well, connections that most everyone living in that age would have recognized.] But to prepare for that, here's a helpful blog that mentions how Henry VIII commissioned a book of the Psalms, with illustrations that included Henry VIII himself in the role of the biblical King David . To understand why there are so many allusions to King David in Hamlet, it's essential to understand how fascinated Henry was with t...