Christianity's central mysteries & teachings in Hamlet 1.1
Christianity's central mysteries & teachings in Hamlet 1.1:
INCARNATION: Marcellus speaks of “ that season... /
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated.”
The conception & birth of Christ claims God is not distant, but one like & among us (Emmanuel as "God-with-us," Mt1:22-23).
TEACHINGS: Horatio says, “A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye,” which alludes to Mt 7:1-5 & Lk 6:41: take the plank from our own eye before taking the mote of dust from a neighbor’s eye; judge not that you be not judged.
[P.S. The idea that we should judge ourselves before judging others is an extension of the second of two of the laws that Jesus identified as most important (love god, and love neighbor as self, or do unto others as you'd have them do unto you). The scripture passage that contains this "mote in the eye" reference also contains the "measure for measure" reference, a favorite of Shakespeare's, which became the title of one of his plays: Judge not others, for the measure you use to judge others will be used to judge you. In an age when English Catholics were persecuted, and when Puritans judged the English church to be insufficient in its reforms to Roman Catholicism, Shakespeare offers a heightened awareness of the idea of judging others and its effects.]
PASSION (suffering & death of Jesus): Bernardo, Horatio, & Marcellus speak of how the ghost slinks away guiltily at the crowing of the cock, alluding to when Peter denied Christ three times on the night of his arrest (Jn 18:13-27).
RESURRECTION: Marcellus describes Horatio as a doubting Thomas (Jn 20:24–29); Horatio speaks of the dead rising from tombs in the time of Julius Caesar; similar events are described in Mt 27:51-53 after the crucifixion.
END TIMES: Horatio speaks of “doomsday,” or the “end times,” prophesied in Revelations, when history will end and all souls will be judged.
NOTE: I do not personally take many of these things literally like the birth of Jesus to a virgin, the end times, or the resurrection of Jesus as a supernatural "resuscitation of a corpse" (a phrase used by theologian Edward Schillebeeckx and others to describe what some prominent theologians believe the resurrection was not). Yet many people in Shakespeare's lifetime did take these things literally, and many still do, while many atheists reject them outright, and others take them metaphorically.
Most introductions to the play do not note these things.
How might we read the play differently in light of all this?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 5/28/18
on LinkedIn]
#Shakespeare #Bible #Hamlet #Literature #LiteraryCriticism #Drama #Theatre #EarlyModern #religion #Renaissance #EnglishLiterature
INCARNATION: Marcellus speaks of “ that season... /
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated.”
The conception & birth of Christ claims God is not distant, but one like & among us (Emmanuel as "God-with-us," Mt1:22-23).
TEACHINGS: Horatio says, “A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye,” which alludes to Mt 7:1-5 & Lk 6:41: take the plank from our own eye before taking the mote of dust from a neighbor’s eye; judge not that you be not judged.
[P.S. The idea that we should judge ourselves before judging others is an extension of the second of two of the laws that Jesus identified as most important (love god, and love neighbor as self, or do unto others as you'd have them do unto you). The scripture passage that contains this "mote in the eye" reference also contains the "measure for measure" reference, a favorite of Shakespeare's, which became the title of one of his plays: Judge not others, for the measure you use to judge others will be used to judge you. In an age when English Catholics were persecuted, and when Puritans judged the English church to be insufficient in its reforms to Roman Catholicism, Shakespeare offers a heightened awareness of the idea of judging others and its effects.]
PASSION (suffering & death of Jesus): Bernardo, Horatio, & Marcellus speak of how the ghost slinks away guiltily at the crowing of the cock, alluding to when Peter denied Christ three times on the night of his arrest (Jn 18:13-27).
RESURRECTION: Marcellus describes Horatio as a doubting Thomas (Jn 20:24–29); Horatio speaks of the dead rising from tombs in the time of Julius Caesar; similar events are described in Mt 27:51-53 after the crucifixion.
END TIMES: Horatio speaks of “doomsday,” or the “end times,” prophesied in Revelations, when history will end and all souls will be judged.
NOTE: I do not personally take many of these things literally like the birth of Jesus to a virgin, the end times, or the resurrection of Jesus as a supernatural "resuscitation of a corpse" (a phrase used by theologian Edward Schillebeeckx and others to describe what some prominent theologians believe the resurrection was not). Yet many people in Shakespeare's lifetime did take these things literally, and many still do, while many atheists reject them outright, and others take them metaphorically.
Most introductions to the play do not note these things.
How might we read the play differently in light of all this?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 5/28/18
on LinkedIn]
#Shakespeare #Bible #Hamlet #Literature #LiteraryCriticism #Drama #Theatre #EarlyModern #religion #Renaissance #EnglishLiterature
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