Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

Around the Christmas—New Year holidays, I often post things that stray from the topic of Hamlet and the Bible. Here's a first post that indulges in such straying, but not far. Someone recommended to me that I should read a book by (James) Branch Cabell called Hamlet Had an Uncle: A Comedy of Honor . I don't recall who recommended it, but I started it over the holidays and have found it to be fun. Other Hamlet fans may also enjoy it, especially those familiar with the source tales. The book was published in 1940 and the reviewer for Kirkus Reviews didn't care for it much, but Goodreads has a much more positive review that perhaps places the book in historical context as an influence on writers such as Neil Gaiman. Those who have studied Hamlet and the source tales from Saxo Grammaticus and Belleforest may find it a fun romp. A number of monarchs or princes in the story were, as it turns out, conceived when their mothers had affairs. These include Hamlet and the Ki

For those who celebrate New Year at this time, I wish you a happy and productive New Year filled with hope and promise. Thanks to readers for the week of 12/24 - 12-31 from the following countries and perhaps more: Bangladesh Egypt France Hungary India Iraq Netherlands Russia United Kingdom United States Thanks also to the thousands of readers in the last two years since I moved to this blog format, and the many before that when I was posting on LinkedIn. The analytics feature is limited to only 10 countries at a time, so unless I check it more often, I may miss others that pop up. Some may get cut off or listed as from "Unknown Region." Listed or not, thanks for your interest. I am grateful and humbled. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks for reading! My current project is a book tentatively titled “Hamlet’s Bible,” about biblical allusions and plot echoes in Hamlet. Below is a link to a list of some of my top posts (“greatest hits”), inclu

If you have not yet seen the Shakespearean Christmas Carol variations from @GoodTickleBrain, do check them out. Be sure to try "Hamlet, the Danish Princeling," to the tune of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"— but there are many more, and great fun. https://goodticklebrain.com/holiday-songbook ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All six of my holiday posts: Twelfth Night & Epiphany, Malvolio & the Cecils, and Antonio & Essex (Holiday Post #6) https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2020/01/twelfth-night-epiphany-malvolio-cecils.html Rise of Skywalker, Oedipus, & George Eliot: Saved by Heroes or Collective? (Holiday Post #5) https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2020/01/rise-of-skywalker-oedipus-george-eliot.html Frozen II: Dams, Aboriginal Peoples, & Addressing Historical Injustices (Holiday Post #4) https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2020/01/frozen-ii-dams-aboriginal-peoples.html Wonder Woman, Paul Ricœur, & Refusing the Seco

Thanks to readers for the week of 12/17 - 12/24 from the following 20 countries: Belgium Canada Egypt France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary India Ireland Italy Japan Mexico Oman Pakistan Russia Saudi Arabia Sweden United Kingdom United States The analytics feature of the blog is limited in the number of countries it lists, so some may get cut off. Listed or not, thanks for your interest. I am grateful and humbled. For those who observe Christmas, I wish you a peaceful and joyous time with friends and family, as well as a season of compassion for the stranger and poor. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks for reading! My current project is a book tentatively titled “Hamlet’s Bible,” about biblical allusions and plot echoes in Hamlet. Below is a link to a list of some of my top posts (“greatest hits”), including a description of my book project (last item on the list): https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/12/top-20-hamlet-bible-posts.html

A short post. I have two projects coming up, and some thanks to share: First, thanks: Last week's post attracted many views from about 19 different countries . I'm very grateful for your readership. If you didn't get a chance to read it, here's the link to that "GREATEST HITS post : https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/12/top-20-hamlet-bible-posts.html Two items of news: 1. At the spring, 2020 Shakespeare Association of America (SAA) conference in Denver, there will be a seminar called “Shakespeare and the Mind: Cognition, Emotion, Affect." Those of you who follow my blog know I have been thinking about fear and dread (Laertes calling Claudius his “dread lord,” Hamlet fearing the ghost). Those of you who have read my fall series on “Labors of Gratitude and Regret” in Hamlet know that I have been pondering the transformative possibilities of gratitude and regret, and also their roots in biblical thought and Christian liturgy. I will be a part

Thanks to readers for the week of 12/9 - 12/16 from the following 18 countries and more as shown by blog analytics: Argentina Belgium Canada Egypt France Germany Hong Kong Hungary India Italy Mauritania Mexico Mongolia Netherlands Russia Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom United States The analytics feature of the blog is limited in the number of countries it lists, so some get cut off. Listed or not, thanks for your interest. I am grateful and humbled.

Below are some of my most essential posts about biblical echoes in Shakespeare, most of them beyond those listed by Naseeb Shaheen & predecessors ( Biblical References in Shakespeare's Plays , which focuses mostly on explicit biblical name- and verse-allusion). A description of my book project is included at the very end. This is not intended to replace Naseeb Shaheen's reference book, but to compliment it, especially with plot echoes that are less explicit and may have been more thoroughly internalized by the writer, or used in more subtle ways for artistic or political reasons. Most of these are short reads, especially early in the list, with a few longer posts toward the end, and a few of them including links for more details. I've tried to illustrate all of these with paintings and drawings from Shakespeare's time or earlier in most instances. Where credits for the images are missing here, see the link for each section. On the one hand, a part of me

Thanks to readers for the week of 12/2 - 12/9 from the following countries and more: Australia Bangladesh Canada Germany Hungary India Kazakhstan Pakistan Poland Romania Switzerland Spain Tunisia United Kingdom United States The analytics feature of the blog is limited in the number of countries it lists, so some get cut off. If you read the blog but don’t find your country listed, don’t feel bad. Listed or not, thanks for your interest. I am grateful and humbled.

This is the latest installment in a multi-part series examining how characters interact in Hamlet, offering opportunities, gifts, planting seeds for future inspiration, or for changes of heart & mind. It follows ideas from Lewis Hyde (“The Labor of Gratitude,” a chapter in his book, The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property) . For more notes on the series and an index of previous posts in this series, see the end of this post. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WHY GIFT-DYNAMICS MATTER FOR HAMLET & THE BIBLE Why might it matter whether, or how, characters in Shakespeare’s Hamlet demonstrate labors of gratitude and regret, or interact in ways that seem to conform to the transformative dynamics of gift exchange? Why does it matter that Claudius repeatedly refuses such moments of grace? What does it matter that so many other characters seem inclined toward some kind of transformation? And how might such interactions relate to biblical influences in the play? The answer to these questi