Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

LOOKING FORWARD TO SAA 2018 - PROGRAM POST Looking forward to attending the Shakespeare Association of America's conference in Los Angeles this week. If you are there, message me via LinkedIn to say hi! Among the presenters/seminars I am especially looking forward to: 1. “Third Wave” Interdisciplinarity in Shakespeare and Biblical Studies — Lori Anne Ferrell (Claremont Graduate University) & Tammi J. Schneider (Claremont Graduate University). Among other works, Lori is the author of "Government by Polemic: James I, the King’s Preachers, and the Rhetorics of Conformity, 1603-1625" and "The Bible and the People." Among other works, Tammi is the author of "Sarah: Mother of Nations," "An Introduction to Ancient Mesopotamian Religion," and "Mothers of Promise: Women in the Book of Genesis." 2. Thinking Theology with Shakespeare — Jay Zysk (University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth). Jay is the author of "Shadow and Substan...

Shakespeare’s Hamlet begins with sentinels Francisco and Bernardo, alluding to Saints Francis of Assisi and Bernard of Clairvaux. Bernard chose the path of the scourge, preaching a 2nd Crusade in apparent defiance of the gospel command to love one’s enemies: Avenge perceived wrongs and reclaim the Holy Land instead of turning the other cheek. Francis chose the path of the minister of reconciliation rather than justice, having been a soldier and prisoner of war, and having repented of violence. He loved his enemies, greeting even violence with generosity and kindness, and met with the Sultan of Egypt during the 5th Crusade, in apparent defiance of military and church leaders who promoted that military misadventure. Scourge and minister: No wonder sentinels Francisco and Bernardo are suspicious of one another. With Bernard as scourge, and Francis as minister, sentinels Bernardo and Francisco are cross-hairs through which the opening of Hamlet is focused. In the end, Ham...

FAITH OF SHAKESPEARE - FROM SHAX MAG 13 Many modern readers can miss biblical allusions in Shakespeare's plays, and can treat the references to bible or religion as merely something like scenery in what they think are otherwise mostly secular plays. But in a recent article in Shakespeare Magazine, an interview with author Graham Holderness gives an excellent introduction to some of the religious issues and questions related to Shakespeare. Because church attendance was compulsory, and because of censorship, it may seem hard at first to tell what religious references are sincere explorations of religious and biblical themes, and what elements were used in the plays merely to construct an engaging plot. Holderness concludes that Shakespeare was faithful to the English church, but others like Harvard's Stephen Greenblatt believe he may have secretly held more Catholic sympathies. I tend to agree more with Greenblatt, yet the plays seem to indicate that he was no passive c...

What king of their recent memory would the earliest audiences for "Hamlet" have associated with that description? Henry VIII: Incestuous, he alleged, because he had second thoughts about having married the widow of his deceased older brother (as Claudius seems to have done). This was a key issue in the English Reformation. Adulterous, because Henry had affairs on the side while he was married to his various queens. In another play of the period, "A Looking Glass for London," the prophet Jonah is sent to urge another incestuous king to repent. Prophetic urging of a king to repent of incest and other sins may have been a double-edged sword: 1) it supports Henry's desired annulment from what he saw as an incestuous marriage. Yet 2) it's also a strong critique of Henry, a king with many sins. But in Hamlet, the prince urges the queen, not the king, to repent. When Hamlet’s mother tells him (3.4) he has cleft her heart in twain, and he replies, “throw ...

RELIGIOUS RIFTS IN SHAKESPEARE’S ENGLAND: ALL SHAKESPEARE’S LIFE THERE WAS A RIFT between the English Church and secret or recusant Catholics still adjusting to Henry VIII’s break from Rome and the reign of Catholic Mary I. Suspected Catholics were spied on, arrested, tortured, accused of treason, executed. There were other rifts as well between English Church Protestants and Puritans, as well as other factions. Catholics were divided, with many favoring outward conformity and obedience to the crown, but others supporting Jesuit missionaries and opposing Elizabeth's reign. In 1589, James VI of Scotland (Protestant son of Catholic Mary Queen of Scots, and later James I of England) married Anne of Denmark, who may have been secretly Catholic. From about 1591-1593, Shakespeare wrote his Henry VI and Richard III plays, about a rift between the houses of Lancaster and York, analogous to the Catholic-Protestant religious rift. The rift is finally healed by the marriage of Lancastria...