EMMAUS PLOT ECHOES IN SHAKESPEARE

When Jesus appears to two disciples on the road to Emmaus, was this a resuscitated corpse using super-powers, or just cleverness, to go unrecognized? Or was it not a resuscitated corpse at all?

If we assume Jesus supernaturally altered his appearance, might we look for a plot echo in Bottom, altered by fairies in Midsummer Night's Dream? If we assume Jesus clouded the minds of the disciples, might we try magical characters, such as Prospero in The Tempest?

Or better: If we think Jesus wore a white hood for shade and a cloth wrap to keep desert dust from nose and mouth, we might look for disguise: In Merchant of Venice, like two disciples, Bassanio & Gratiano fail to recognize Portia as the lawyer who “became man” to save their friend.

What if a mere stranger did for two disciples the kinds of things Jesus had done? Listening with empathy, explaining scriptures, breaking bread? What if they found in him similar stuff as they had found in their beloved teacher, and realized that these things were still available to them in the world, even in strangers?

Two Danes on the road to Elsinore meet a gravedigger; they find a skull they don’t recognize at first. Fellows of infinite jest….

#Shakespeare #Hamlet #Literature #Bible #Renaissance #EarlyModern

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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 4/30/18
on LinkedIn]



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