Part 3: ALL I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PURGATORY I LEARNED FROM SHAKESPEARE’S HAMLET (& Stephen Greenblatt)
Part 3: ALL I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PURGATORY I LEARNED FROM SHAKESPEARE’S HAMLET (& Stephen Greenblatt)
Thought experiment: Three aging monarchs realize some past decisions & sins have caused innocent suffering. What to do? Repent?
Monarch A donates money to a monastery where the monks have never spoken critically of the royal family. The king’s youngest brother was recently made abbot. After death, hundreds of masses will be said to reduce his time in purgatory. But perhaps the gift doesn’t rebalance the good to outweigh harm he has caused in the world.
Monarch B donates to a convent where none of her relatives live or serve, in spite of the fact that the nuns have sometimes been critical of the choices of the royal family. Their primary mission is to serve needs of the sick and poor, to house the homeless, give them productive work, and teach useful skills.
Monarch C reforms laws to be more fair and just, to reduce prison sentences when possible, and to raise wages and plan better to avoid famine and other natural disasters.
One doesn’t have to believe in a metaphysical purgatory to think monarchs B & C may have done more to rebalance the scales in favor of the good than monarch A.
But in the end, has Hamlet done enough to fix what is rotten in Denmark and himself?
#Shakespeare #Hamlet #Literature #Bible #Renaissance #EarlyModern #theatre #Drama #literarycriticism #Greenblatt #Purgatory
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PURGATORY & Hamlet
Pt 1
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/12/all-my-fav-things-re-purgatory-pt-i.html
Pt 2
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2018/01/hamlet-purgatorypart-2-shakespeare-was.html
Pt 3
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2018/02/part-3-all-i-need-to-know-about.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 2/19/18
on LinkedIn]
Thought experiment: Three aging monarchs realize some past decisions & sins have caused innocent suffering. What to do? Repent?
Monarch A donates money to a monastery where the monks have never spoken critically of the royal family. The king’s youngest brother was recently made abbot. After death, hundreds of masses will be said to reduce his time in purgatory. But perhaps the gift doesn’t rebalance the good to outweigh harm he has caused in the world.
Monarch B donates to a convent where none of her relatives live or serve, in spite of the fact that the nuns have sometimes been critical of the choices of the royal family. Their primary mission is to serve needs of the sick and poor, to house the homeless, give them productive work, and teach useful skills.
Monarch C reforms laws to be more fair and just, to reduce prison sentences when possible, and to raise wages and plan better to avoid famine and other natural disasters.
One doesn’t have to believe in a metaphysical purgatory to think monarchs B & C may have done more to rebalance the scales in favor of the good than monarch A.
But in the end, has Hamlet done enough to fix what is rotten in Denmark and himself?
#Shakespeare #Hamlet #Literature #Bible #Renaissance #EarlyModern #theatre #Drama #literarycriticism #Greenblatt #Purgatory
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PURGATORY & Hamlet
Pt 1
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/12/all-my-fav-things-re-purgatory-pt-i.html
Pt 2
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2018/01/hamlet-purgatorypart-2-shakespeare-was.html
Pt 3
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2018/02/part-3-all-i-need-to-know-about.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 2/19/18
on LinkedIn]
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