FATHER ISSUES FOR HAMLET & FRANCISCO

Shakespeare's Hamlet has father issues, and only after being spared by pirates at sea does he refocus from his father's ghost to what he sees as the hand of Providence. It might have been better if he'd made the break sooner.

But Shakespeare chose to name the first character on stage Francisco, a sentinel, and a possible allusion to Francis of Assisi, who also had father issues, and whose monasteries spread all over Europe and to England, where hundreds of monasteries were "dissolved" during the reign of Henry VIII - a nice way of saying land was stolen to be sold off by the crown and for political favors.

[April 12, 2024 note: We may also observe that, just as Francis of Assisi had father issues - and famousely sought to separate himself from an abusive father in favor of a heavenly one - Bernard of Clairvaux was famous for having said to have had a dream in which he was fed on milk from the breast of the Virgin Mary, a vision portrayed in various paintings. On this theme, perhaps they both relate to Hamlet's quest especially after his sea voyage for more transcendent parentage - which also marks the end of his visitations of the ghost of his father.]

The names of the sentinels, Francisco and Bernardo, may also be allusions to the names of two key assassins in the Pazzi Conspiracy (1478, Florence, Italy), where more than one church has frescoes based on the life of Francis.

The painting below is from Santa Trinità, Florence, by Domenico Ghirlandaio, and depicts Francis stripping off his clothes to renounce his rich merchant father's worldly possessions, and being embraced by the local bishop. This was commissioned by a friend of the Medici family less than 10 years after the death of Giuliano in the conspiracy, which took place in the cathedral nearby.



https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Domenico_Ghirlandaio_-_Renunciation_of_Worldly_Goods_-_WGA08797.jpg


See also The Saint and the Sultan by Paul Moses (2009).]

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INDEX OF POSTS on Francisco & Bernardo:

PAZZI CONSPIRACY - possible allusion noted by C. Elliot Browne in 1876 in the names of Francisco & Bernardo
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/05/c-elliot-browne-wrote-in-1876-that.html
1 May, 2017

SCOURGE AND MINISTER: BERNARD AND FRANCIS https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2018/03/scourge-minister-bernard-francis.html
- March 26, 2018

MIGHT ART LOST IN DISSOLVED MONASTERIES HAVE HELPED CONNECT HAMLET'S FRANCISCO & BERNARDO TO THE SAINTS?
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/04/might-lost-art-in-dissolved-monasteries.html
- April 03, 2017

FATHER ISSUES FOR HAMLET & FRANCISCO
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/01/shakespeares-hamlet-has-father-issues.html
- April 10, 2017

TOP SIX REASONS Shakespeare probably named sentinel Francisco after Francis of Assisi
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/04/top-six-reasons-shakespeare-probably.html
- April 17, 2017

Four Approaches to Francisco & Bernardo in Hamlet
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/04/four-approaches-to-names-of-sentinels.html
- April 24, 2017

MELANCHOLY: LOST DELIGHT IN HAMLET & FRANCIS OF ASSISI
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/07/melancholy-lost-delight-hamlet-francis.html
- July 17, 2017

How Geographical Memory May Have Encouraged the Naming of Two Characters in Hamlet
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/07/how-geographical-memory-may-have.html
- July 24, 2017

SHAKESPEARE'S HAMLET FINDS A FATHER IN PROVIDENCE (not RI)
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/11/shakespeares-hamlet-finds-father-in.html
- November 20, 2017

WHAT DO FRANCISCO & BERNARDO HAVE TO DO WITH SHAKESPEARE & THE BIBLE?
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/12/what-do-francisco-bernardo-have-to-do.html
- December 03, 2017

BERNARDO TALES: LAERTES & HAMLET RECONCILE, as do BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX & PETER ABELARD
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/12/bernardo-abelard-hamlet-laertes-reconcile.html
- December 04, 2017

CORRUPTED REFORMERS: WHY SOMEONE NAMED AFTER BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX MIGHT BE FIRST TO SPEAK IN SHAKESPEARE’S HAMLET
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/01/corrupted-reformers-why-someone-named.html
- January 01, 2018

SCOURGE AND MINISTER: BERNARD AND FRANCIS
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2018/03/scourge-minister-bernard-francis.html
- March 26, 2018
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Disclaimer: If and when I quote or paraphrase bible passages or mention religion in many of my blog posts, I do not intend to promote any religion over another, nor am I attempting to promote religious belief in general; only to explore how the Bible and religion influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
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Thanks for reading!
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My current project is a book tentatively titled Hamlet’s Bible, about biblical allusions and plot echoes in Hamlet.

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