ST. VALENTINE, OPHELIA, & CLAUDIUS in HAMLET

VALENTINE'S DAY not only makes sweethearts, florists, chocolatiers and greeting card manufacturers happy: It is also associated with various Christian martyrs...
one of whom was beheaded [1] by order of Claudius II (r.268-270).

NOTE: Hamlet escapes the beheading order of Claudius;

Ophelia sings of Valentine's Day.

COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT.

TAKEAWAY:
Make sure your Valentines don't include orders for your beheading from a guy named Claudius!

ALSO CONSIDER: St. Valentine's day was probably more of a Catholic and popular feast (taken over from paganism) than a Protestant church feast in Shakespeare's time, because although it included a tale of martyrdom and divine "caritas" love (a theological virtue), it is transformed in popular culture into a feast of Eros or human and romantic love.

Scripture does describe the church as the bride and Christ as the groom, and yet perhaps some Protestants or Puritans of Shakespeare's time may have frowned upon it as a feast wrapped up in too much superstition and folklore, too secularized? (Catholics and Protestants disagreed on whether marriage was a sacrament....)

Ophelia's song in Hamlet 4.5:

To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,
All in the morning bedtime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Then up he rose and donn'd his clo'es
And dupp'd the chamber door,
Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more.

Scholars sometimes note that Claudius I of Rome had an incestuous marriage, and his son Nero is mentioned by Hamlet.

But Claudius II, St. Valentine, and beheadings also fit in the play. Scholars should not settle too soon merely because they find one explanation for an allusion that makes sense....

POSTSCRIPT November 12, 2024: Consider that, in Shakespeare's time and earlier, if asked under the reign of which Roman Emperor it was alleged that St. Valentine was martyred, many more people may have been able to identify Claudius II. Perhaps it is mostly resistance to considering religion (and especially Catholicism) that keeps most scholars from connecting the name of Claudius with the Roman Emperors by that name, and in this case, with the execution of Valentine?

NOTES:
[1] Supposedly/allegedly/hagiographically beheaded...

 

https://twitter.com/padrianfried/status/963831603071016960

More on the multiple persons now known as St. Valentines, via Larry O. Dean:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/gory-origins-valentines-day-180968156/

https://www.npr.org/2011/02/14/133693152/the-dark-origins-of-valentines-day
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My current project is a book tentatively titled Hamlet’s Bible, about biblical allusions and plot echoes in Hamlet.

Below is a link to a list of some of my top posts (“greatest hits”), including a description of my book project (last item on the list):

https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/12/top-20-hamlet-bible-posts.html

I post every week, so please visit as often as you like and consider subscribing.