Ophelia: "The false steward that stole his master's daughter"

OPHELIA: "THE FALSE STEWARD THAT STOLE HIS MASTER'S DAUGHTER"

In recent years, scholars* have identified a cryptic statement Ophelia makes:
“It is the false steward that stole his master's daughter” (4.5).

They now think this points to a Ben Jonson play in which a young girl is taken by a steward and passed off as his own while the father is away at war. Years later, she falls in love but is told she is unworthy of the match, when in fact she is worthy by her true parentage. This changeling theme resembles the story of Jesus, apparent son of a carpenter, but actually of a heavenly father.

I have posted before of how Francisco of Assisi (see sentinel name) renounced his earthly father in favor of a heavenly one,
and how, after his Jonah-like sea-voyage, Hamlet finds a heavenly father in Providence.

Ophelia is told by Laertes that she is "unvalued"/unworthy of marriage to Hamlet, who made to her “almost all the holy vows of heaven” (a marriage proposal? She’d be the next queen), according to what she tells her father.

Does Ophelia find a true heavenly master, and that she is worthy, similar to Hamlet’s character trajectory (toward Providence, the mercy of pirates, and the memory of surrogate-father Yorick)?
Or perhaps merely surrounded by false stewards?

*These scholars include the following, offered here chronologically rather than alphabetically:
Moore, Peter R. "Ophelia's false steward." Notes and Queries, vol. 41, no. 4, 1994, p. 488+.
Burnett, Mark Thornton, "Ophelia's 'False Steward' Contextualized." The Review of English Studies, Vol. 46, No. 181 (Feb. 1995), pp. 48-56

#Shakespeare #Hamlet #EarlyModern #Bible #Renaissance #Theater #Drama #Literature #EnglishLiterature #Ophelia #literarycriticism

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Here's another link, to a post about Hamlet's Jonah-like sea-voyage, which is when he seems to re-focus upon Providence instead of the ghost:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-ghost-of-jonah-haunts-hamlet.html

Here's a link to my older post about Hamlet and Francis reorienting themselves to Providence or a heavenly father:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/11/shakespeares-hamlet-finds-father-in.html

#Shakespeare #Hamlet #EarlyModern #Bible #Renaissance #Theater #Drama #Literature #EnglishLiterature #Ophelia #DaisyRidley