Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

Last week I started what will be a series of brief posts highlighting certain ideas from Isaac Asimov's two-volume work on Shakespeare. This week I want to address two interesting allusions Hamlet makes, pointed out by Asimov: The first is a comparison for his mother, the second an analogy for his own resolve. Although Asimov doesn't spell it out, both foreshadow his own death (but Asimov describes enough about the allusions that we can make the connection). For those teaching Shakespeare, especially to students encountering Hamlet for the first time, the stories of Niobe and of Hercules and the Nemean lion would very often be unfamiliar, in which case the foreshadowing would be lost on many new readers. We can still appreciate the basic thrust of the play in performance or in our reading without catching or reflecting on these two allusions, but these are examples of how attention to what at first seems relatively minor details might yield interesting results that helps ...

Thanks to readers for the past week, which the blog's analytics show as being from the following countries: Australia Brazil Canada Chile Egypt France Georgia Hungary India Indonesia Israel Italy Japan Netherlands Sweden Tunisia Turkey United Kingdom United States Venezuela The analytics feature is limited, so unless I check it daily, I may miss some 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 post every week, so please visit as often as you like and consider subscribing.

The science fiction writer Issac Asimov has a two-volume work on Shakespeare, first published in two volumes in 1970, and later (as in my 1978 library copy) published in one fat book, two volumes in one. It has a Wikipedia page whose section on "Reception" has the following probably quite accurate quote: Fans of Asimov's science-fiction generally have little taste for door-stopper books such as Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare or The Shaping of England, and specialists are never happy to see clever outsiders make hay in their fields. — Peter Temes The edition that combines both volumes into one book might especially be termed a "door stopper" book, as it's fat and heavy enough to fill that purpose. But it's also true that at least some Shakespeare specialists tend to prefer to quote other Shakespeare specialists, and therefore might consider Asimov as an outsider and therefore view his work on Shakespeare unfavorably. Asimov's book (or the sec...

Thanks to readers for the past week, which the blog's analytics show as being from the following countries: Argentina Australia Belgium Canada Denmark Egypt France Germany Greece Iceland India Israel Italy Netherlands New Zealand Pakistan Poland Russia Sri Lanka Turkey United Kingdom United States The analytics feature is limited, so unless I check it daily, I may miss some 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 post every week, so please visit as often as you like and consider...

Have you eyes? Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed, And batten on this moor? - Hamlet , 3.4.2449-2451 In Patricia Parker's 2003 essay, "Black Hamlet Battening on the Moor" ( Shakespeare Studies , Vol. 31), she masterfully discusses the line from Hamlet 3.4 in which, for his mother's benefit, the prince compares his dead father to a "fair mountain" and his Uncle Claudius to a swamp or "moor," analyzing many implications of the phrase as "part of the racialized lexicon of color" (144) in this and other plays. She notes that others before her like Dover Wilson have picked up on at least the double meaning in this passage, a first meaning being geographical (mountain vs. swamp), and a second being a racialized meaning (a fair and good Nordic Arian vs. a dark and evil "moor." Like Denzel Washington portraying Malcolm X in the Spike Lee film by that name, Parker notes how, for Shakespeare and many of his contemporari...

Thanks to readers for the past week, which the blog's analytics show as being from the following countries: Argentina Australia Canada Egypt France Germany India Italy Mexico Netherlands Romania Russia Spain Sweden United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States The analytics feature is limited, so unless I check it daily, I may miss some 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 post every week, so please visit as often as you like and consider subscribing.

Thanks to readers for the past week, which the blog's analytics show as being from the following countries: Canada Egypt France Georgia Germany Hungary India Maldives Netherlands Nigeria Portugal Romania Sweden United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States The analytics feature is limited, so unless I check it daily, I may miss some 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 post every week, so please visit as often as you like and consider subscribing.

If you ask actors about the influences, differences, and similarities between Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy and Shakespeare's Hamlet , some may respond that one could never prove the nit-picking speculations of academics, and that both are revenge plays with plenty of material for actors to bring to life, and for audiences to be drawn in. Shakespeare was an entertainer, and he wanted to make a good living, so if he borrowed elements from Kyd, as long as the shows are a success with audiences and at the box office, everyone is happy. [Images: The Spanish Tragedy via Wikipedia ; Hamlet Q2, via Folger Shakespeare Library .] Of course, in a way, they're right. Actors still bring very old plays to life for audiences who are moved, again and again, by something not only in the scripts, but in the actors and the audiences themselves. When things come together well in a live performance, why dig and speculate about historical questions that might never be answered? And y...

Besides blogging here, I post links to new blog posts on FaceBook forums related to Shakespeare as well as on Twitter and LinkedIn. Last week, on LinkedIn , in a discussion thread below last week's blog post on anagnorisis , Dan Decker noted: " Hamlet is a tale of redemption. It is not a revenge plot." In fact, if one compares Hamlet (as many often do) to The Spanish Tragedy , it's interesting to note not only the many similarities scholars point out, but also how, while the protagonist in TST sinks deeper into revenge before the very bloody ending, while in contrast, Hamlet descends into violent and bloody thoughts, but then reascends after having his life saved by pirates, and after finding the skull of Yorick, identified with the help of the gravedigger. Yes, he still fights with Laertes over Ophelia's grave, but something has changed in him.  Yes, after being wounded by Laertes and unknowingly poisoned in what was supposed to be a fair fencing match, ...

Thanks to readers for the past week, which the blog's analytics show as being from the following countries: Australia Canada France Germany India Israel Lebanon Malta Netherlands Pakistan Romania Saudi Arabia Sweden Tunisia Turkey United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States The analytics feature is limited, so unless I check it daily, I may miss some 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 post every week, so please visit as often as you like and consider subscribing.