Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

[Detail: Conversion on the Way to Damascus: Caravaggio (c.1600-1). Image from Wikipedia, in the public domain. Full image below.] I have been thinking about Pauline influences on, or echoes in, Hamlet.  Some of these in particular are in the first scene, some in a middle scene, and some in the last. In the first scene of Hamlet , Francisco might be the first sentinel on stage. The second sentinel, Bernardo, enters cautiously and asks a question. But instead of answering, sentinel Francisco demands that Bernardo answer his own question first: Bernardo: Who’s there? Francisco: Nay, answer me: stand, and unfold yourself! This construction of dialogue is notable for having one character ask a question, and the other, more authoritatively, turn it back on him. Most Shakespeare scholars assume Francisco is still on duty and the person in charge, coming to the end of his shift; Bernardo is coming on duty to relive him, but perhaps nervous and not quite following protocol. S...

Thanks to readers for the week, which the blog's analytics show as being from the following countries and perhaps more: Australia Canada France Georgia Germany Hong Kong India Italy Netherlands Romania Saudi Arabia Serbia Singapore Slovakia Spain Sweden Switzerland Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States 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. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 I pos...

Sometimes a scholar says something about a Shakespeare play that is not meant as a final answer, but one of many possible insights. Then someone takes it the wrong way, and like a bad game of telephone, others are repeating it, also taking it the wrong way. Oops. [Image: Peter Paul Rubens, ca. 1613-1615. Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp, via Wikipedia .] Example: Let’s say some reader of Hamlet centuries ago observed that Horatio in the first scene is treated like a doubting Thomas (Thomas being the one who, according to the Gospel of John, was absent when the risen Jesus supposedly appeared to the disciples; he would not believe until he saw it himself, and put his hands in the wounds, he said). The early reader observes, “Look how Shakespeare has used the doubt of a skeptical Horatio regarding the ghost to help convince perhaps an otherwise skeptical audience that this play will assume ghosts or supernatural specters are real!” This doesn’t mean that the doubting Thomas...

Thanks to readers for the week of 1/14 - 1/21 from the following countries and perhaps more: Austria Brazil Canada Denmark France Greece Germany India Italy Netherlands Nigeria Romania Russia Slovakia Spain Switzerland Tunisia United Kingdom United States 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”), including a description of my book project (last item on the list): https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/12/top-20-hamlet-bible-posts.html I post every week, so please visit as often as you like ...

IN OUR LAST EPISODE I recently shared a blog post around the time of the Epiphany , reflecting on how Shakespeare's play, Twelfth Night, is named after the last of the twelve days of Christmas, and how Twelfth Night is the night before the feast of the Epiphany. Epiphany Sunday usually falls one week before the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which was last Sunday. THIS WEEK: SOMETHING MISSING? A year and two months ago, I shared a blog post about Hamlet's repeated line, "Let be." While Hamlet's "Let be" is similar to what the Virgin Mary says to Angel Gabriel at the Annunciation, telling her she will bear a son conceived by the Holy Spirit, it's not exactly the same. Also, there's a different "let be" in the gospels that offers a closer or exact match: This occurs when Jesus goes to be baptized by John the Baptist. Two years ago, I thought it may have been mostly an allusion to Mary's words, but with a nod toward John...

Thanks to readers for the week of 1/7 - 1/14 from the following countries and perhaps more: Belgium Canada France Germany Greece Hong Kong India Italy Mauritania Netherlands Nicaragua Pakistan Singapore Slovakia Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Turkey Uganda United Kingdom United States Unknown Region 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”), including a description of my book project (last item on the list): https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/12/top-20-hamlet-bible-posts.html I post...

Thanks to readers for the week of 12/31 - 1/6 from the following countries and perhaps more: Australia Belgium Canada Egypt France Germany India Iraq Ireland Netherlands New Zealand Romania Russia Sweden Turkey United Kingdom United States 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”), including a description of my book project (last item on the list): https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/12/top-20-hamlet-bible-posts.html I post every week, so please visit as often as you like and consider subsc...

[ Cologne Cathedral, Altarpiece of the Magi ] Some may wonder why Shakespeare's Twelfth Night was named after the twelfth night of Christmas, eve of the Epiphany. The gospel tale is about wise men or Magi from the East who follow a star to pay homage to a new king of Israel, Jesus. The play has none of that stuff in it. But consider: In the gospel story, there is anticipation of a new king. This is why the Magi follow the star. In Shakespeare's England, there had long been hope and anticipation by many of an heir if Elizabeth would only have wed and given birth to a child. Today we might celebrate her independence and assertiveness to remain single, but many during her reign felt otherwise. In the play, Olivia is like Elizabeth (both three-syllable names): She is mourning the death of a father, and more recently, a brother (like Elizabeth, whose father Henry and brother Edward were kings of Protestant England before her and had both died before she assumed the...

[Spoiler alert: If you plan to see, "The Rise of Skywalker," there are spoilers in this post.] Over the holidays (as mentioned in previous posts), with family members we saw Frozen II , re-watched Wonder Woman , and also saw The Rise of Skywalker , supposedly the conclusion in the latest trilogy from the Star Wars franchise. The Rise of Skywalker had some of the same problems that plagued the last episode of Game of Thrones , perhaps having to accomplish too much in too short a film to please audiences and studio executives sensitive to marketing issues. Many things unfold without adequate explanation, short-changing audiences on back-story and exposition, while delivering plenty of special effects and battle scenes. Just as Shakespeare's Hamlet is haunted by the Oedipus tale, so is the Star Wars franchise. Whereas prince Hamlet is visited by the morally ambiguous ghost of his father, and later in the graveyard, the much kinder memory of Yorick, the spirits that...

[Spoiler alert for those who have not seen Disney's Frozen, Moana, or Frozen II.] Many people have low expectations of sequels films. If a first film produced by a large entertainment corporation makes money, it's expected that they will ride the wave of popularity and make a sequel to continue to reap rewards from renewed interest. I had low expectations of Frozen II , released in late November of 2019. The first film (released November 27, 2013) seemed too centered on the narcissistic adventures of a firstborn daughter with special powers (what first-born doesn't feel they have special powers?) who feels she had to repress those powers and be a "good girl." In the end, she and her younger sister are redeemed by love, with help from a snowman, a reindeer, and a woodsman who grew up as an orphan, raised by trolls (some of whom, for some reason, turn out to be Jewish in spirit ( as some noted ), as demonstrated in the song, "She's a Bit of a Fixer-Up...

SPOILER ALERT: If you have not seen the 2017 film, Wonder Woman , the following may contain spoilers. As I did last year, I'm using the holidays to stray a bit from the topic of biblical allusions in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Besides my posts about Hamlet Had an Uncle and "the jade's trick" in Much Ado , I will be making a few other posts before twelfth night (the day before Epiphany), including a post about Shakespeare's Twelfth Night . Gatherings with family members during the Christmas season usually includes, for us, taking in some films (either in a theater or at home). This year it has included a number of films, including Wonder Woman (2017), which we viewed again at home with... let's say it was with representatives of a younger generation. [Promotional image via Comicbook.com ] The film is set during World War I, known then as "The Great War," and Wonder Woman (played by Gal Godot) believes the war is being caused by Ares, god of ...

As with last year, I'm using the holidays to stray a bit from the topic of biblical allusions in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Besides my post about Hamlet Had an Uncle, I will be making a few other posts before twelfth night (the day before Epiphany), including a post about Shakespeare's  Twelfth Night. [image by Folger Shakespeare Library] Much Ado and the "Jade's Trick"— as coitus interruptus? I have been reading a good essay about Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, an essay which argues that in many Shakespeare plays, men have more trouble with commitment than women. The essay is by Joost Daadler (2004, "The Pre-history of Beatrice and Benedick in 'Much Ado About Nothing'" . 'English Studies', vol.85, no.6, 520-527). https://dspace.flinders.edu.au/xmlui/bitstream/handle/2328/324/The%20Pre-History%20of%20Beatrice%20and%20Benedick%20in%20Much%20Ado%20About%20N.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y&fbclid=IwAR3aIjblrlkcRyM_F...