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 source tales (Saxo Grammaticus and Belleforest), there is an "incestuous" marriage where one man murders his brother the king and takes the widow as wife, but no pretended affection by uncle toward prince.
Does Shakespeare highlight this confusion of roles in part to criticize Henry VIII's having usurped the pope's role in England?
Too many hats?
#Shakespeare #Hamlet #Literature #Bible #Religion #Renaissance #EarlyModern #theatre #Drama #literarycriticism #schism #pope
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 10/23/17
on LinkedIn]
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 source tales (Saxo Grammaticus and Belleforest), there is an "incestuous" marriage where one man murders his brother the king and takes the widow as wife, but no pretended affection by uncle toward prince.
Does Shakespeare highlight this confusion of roles in part to criticize Henry VIII's having usurped the pope's role in England?
Too many hats?
#Shakespeare #Hamlet #Literature #Bible #Religion #Renaissance #EarlyModern #theatre #Drama #literarycriticism #schism #pope
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 10/23/17
on LinkedIn]
Comments
Post a Comment