Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

HAMLET’S BIBLE / Dinner-discussion: I will be speaking at a Tues., Jan. 29 dinner at Vanderbilt University about biblical allusions & plot echoes in Shakespeare’s Hamlet (my book project). Rev. Gretchen Person, Associate Chaplain & Associate Dir. of Religious Life at Vanderbilt, was key in arranging this (many thanks!). The poster for the event includes the following images from Renaissance & medieval art (L-R) (see notes below the pic): Top: 1. The prophet Nathan catching the conscience of King David (with a story about a shepherd boy) 2. Hamlet & Horatio, graveyard (two Danes on road to Elsinore—like disciples to Emmaus) 3. Suzannah & corrupt (eavesdropping) elders/judges, from the Book of Daniel (Apocrypha) Middle: 4. Jonah, spit out by fish (Hamlet's pirate ship) 5. Shakespeare & title page of Geneva Bible 6. Jonah thrown from boat (fish about to swallow) Bottom: 7. Salome & head of John the Baptist 8. Francis of Assisi, renounc...

John R. Yamamoto-Wilson . Yet another departure from Shakespeare and the Bible during the holidays, I want to share a Youtube video by John R. Yamamoto-Wilson . This one is about a John Donne poem, but he has many others on his channel, all nicely instructive. I would say his channel deserves many more views and subscribers, so do consider it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [Originally posted around the week of 12/25/18 on LinkedIn ] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ #Shakespeare #Bible #Hamlet #Literature #LiteraryCriticism #Drama #Theatre #EarlyModern #religion #Renaissance #EnglishLiterature

My third Holiday Post is about the UK's Shakespeare Magazine, which is online for free, and a wonderful resource. You can follow them on Twitter @UKShakespeare, and their web page is at They are seeking donations at this time of year, and if you've ever read any of their 15 issues, they are a worthy cause. Consider donating. http://www.shakespearemagazine.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ #Shakespeare #Bible #Hamlet #Literature #LiteraryCriticism #Drama #Theatre #EarlyModern #religion #Renaissance #EnglishLiterature

Melissa Hudler Blog The second of my holiday season posts - straying from Shakespeare - is about Melissa Hudler and her blog . - Melissa teaches at Lamar University but is on leave developing a writing program for cancer patients at a nearby hospital. - You don't have to be a scholar or cancer patient to read and benefit from her blog posts and to try her writing prompts. - Melissa's choice to explore and create this program makes me think of many other academics whom I respect greatly for how they view themselves as servants to their communities. - Her recent blog post, "Receiving as Giving," made me think of times I've received gifts from children or the elderly, gifts I may not have needed or been that fond of, but it was important to receive the gifts with grace and to honor the spirit of the gift and giver. -Parents also have to consider the importance of teaching this to their children at holiday times. - And imagine, if you were a cancer patient, you...

The Ghost of Shakespeare blog by John Langdon is one I highly recommend. (In a departure from my regular posts about Hamlet, Shakespeare, or Hamlet and the Bible, for the holiday season I want to promote some literature and writing blogs I especially like.) John's teaching experience includes the University of Birmingham in the UK where they have a world-renowned Shakespeare program. He often begins with a Shakespeare quote, or a clip from some other literary source, such as Herman Melville in this case, and then weaves his way into reflections on current events and culture, often weaving his way back into literary sources again. John's imagination is wonderfully wide and weaves its way through many ideas that are in need of visiting or revisiting. Please consider visiting and subscribing. I like getting email reminders that he has a new post, and always look forward to reading them. #writing #literaure #literary #blogging #blogger #blog #english #poetry #reflection #Sha...

Elizabeth, who often referred to herself as a "prince": "I may not be a lion, but I am a lion's cub, and I have a lion's heart." Like Hamlet, Elizabeth I was (figuratively) haunted by her father: Henry VIII broke from Rome to obtain an annulment from his first wife so that he could marry Elizabeth’s mother Anne; he later had Anne executed (on trumped-up charges? Bored with her, tired of her assertiveness, already courting a replacement). Called by some a "bastard queen," conceived before her parents' marriage, Elizabeth spoke highly of her father in public but wore a locket with her mother’s picture. Laertes says that if he doesn’t avenge his father, he proclaims himself bastard. - If Elizabeth didn’t adhere to her father’s separation from Rome, she would have proclaimed herself bastard: her legitimacy depended to some extent on her father’s break from Rome to get his first marriage annulled. Hamlet says to Ophelia, “we will have no...

Some may wonder: Why haven’t more scholars associated Elizabethan melancholy like that of Hamlet with “The Dark Night of the Soul” instead of with Robert Burton’s “The Anatomy of Melancholy”? Burton’s work (1621) came two decades after Shakespeare is thought to have revised the Ur-Hamlet, and was more unique to the time than ancient mysticism. While Spanish author John of the Cross wrote “The Dark Night of the Soul” in 1577-9, it was a Roman Catholic work, as was its 14th Century English predecessor, “The Cloud of Unknowing.” England after Shakespeare wanted to develop its own national identity and claim the Bard for the English Church. A few have long claimed Shakespeare was secretly Catholic, but this was always disputed. Some English authors popularized anti-Catholic ideas that monks and nuns were sexually promiscuous and that confessor priests had sex with women parishioners, cuckolding husbands. This may have helped rationalize Henry VIII's dissolution of monasteries af...

Discussion of Elizabethan melancholy often turns to Robert Burton’s 1621 work, The Anatomy of Melancholy. Others claim melancholy was fashionably pretended by lovers, poets and scholars. Or Hamlet might be in a mystical dark night of the soul as described by John of the Cross (1577-9) and earlier mystics such as the English 14th century author of The Cloud of Unknowing. The dark night included a purgation of sense and spirit; it resembles not only Hamlet’s “man delights not me” speech (2.2), but also St. Francis's melancholy as a young man. We find traces of it also in the Song of Songs, often thought an allegory for the love of Christ for his church, and the longing for union with a divine beloved. Another explanation: Many members of Shakespeare's audiences were traumatized, probably suffering from PTSD after brutal public executions of Catholics under Henry VIII & Edward VI, of Protestants under Mary I, and Catholics again under Elizabeth, contributing to a disillu...