Niobe & the Nemean Lion: Notes on Asimov on Hamlet, Part 2
Last week I started what will be a series of brief posts highlighting certain ideas from Isaac Asimov's two-volume work on Shakespeare.
[Image: Public Domain via Google Art Project and Wikipedia: "Apollo and Diana Punishing Niobe by Killing her Children," by Abraham Bloemaert, 1591.]
Asimov considers the Niobe allusion first (II.93-94):
This is a helpful explanation of why Hamlet should compare his mother's tears at his father's funeral to Niobe: We need to know why Niobe of Greek mythical tales is famous for tears, and Asimov provides the very explanation we require.
But here's the rub: By comparing his mother to Niobe, whose children who were all killed, Hamlet's allusion foreshadows his own death. If Niobe is not famous for mourning the death of a husband (like another Greek allusion Hamlet makes with the players), but rather, for the death of her children, this matters and resonates with meaning.
If Shakespeare's original audience was more familiar with those tales, then for those in the original audiences who knew the Niobe tale, it offered automatic recognition as an allusion about a mother who suffered the death of her children and was inconsolable. For audiences today, unfamiliar with the Niobe tale, we have to fumble a bit to understand, but Asimov provides the needed help.
THE NEMEAN LION'S NERVE
Later, Asimov describes the scene (Act 1, scene iv) in which Horatio tries to convince Hamlet not to follow the ghost to speak with it. In part, Hamlet responds, and then Asimov explains the reference:
[Image public domain, via Wikipedia: "Hércules lucha con el león de Nemea, por Zurbarán," by Francisco de Zurbarán, 1634. Accessed 9/28/2020.]
Asimov's two-volume work is self-referential in this way: His first volume includes parts I, II, and III (Greek, Roman, and Italian plays), so in the second volume, if he has already discussed related material in earlier parts, he refers the reader to those sections for more details.
We might note not only what Hamlet says, but also what he doesn't say: In his strong desire to speak to the apparition and prepare for any possible bad or shocking news, Hamlet does not tell Horatio that his "fate cries out / And makes each petty artery in this body / As hardy as the" - nerve of Hercules, facing the Nemean lion? No, in the allusion, Hamlet associates himself with the lion that will die at Hercules' hands. So Shakespeare has constructed the text in such a way as to offer another foreshadowing of Hamlet's death.
We might also note that the story of Hercules and the Nemean lion involves other aspects of sons and sacrifice: As the Wikipedia article on "Nemean Lion" (in its section on the "First Labor of Hercules") notes,
This is reminiscent of "substitutionary atonement" (something I've discussed along with incestuous royal marriages and lay investiture, in a previous post), like Jesus dying to save others, or like Hamlet risking the danger of the duel with Laertes to stop Claudius from causing more harm:
A similar theme of sacrificial love is found in the Gospel of John, 15:13: "Greater love than this hath no man, when any man bestoweth his life for his friends." (Geneva translation)
When Hamlet evokes the memory of the tale of the Nemean lion, many of these other associations are evoked along with it; but for this moment in the play, this allusion, like that of Niobe, hints at his own defeat.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THIS POST IS PART OF A LARGER SERIES, reflecting on an in reaction toIsaac Asimov's treatment of Hamlet in his two-volume work, Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Notes on Asimov on Hamlet:
Part 7: Overall Major Stengths & Weaknesses (Asimov on Hamlet)
Part 6: Why Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Must Die
Part 5: Chameleon Hamlet & 1 Cor 9
Part 4: Suicide, Survival, Adaptivity, & Resistance
Part 3: Power-Broker Polonius, Ungenerous Jephthah
Part 2: Niobe & the Nemean Lion
Part 1: Wicked Uncles
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Disclaimer: If and when I quote or paraphrase bible passages in many of my blog posts, I do not intend to promote any religion over any other, nor am I attempting to promote religious belief in general; only to point out how the Bible may have influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 subscribing.
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 the text resonate with greater meaning for us.
NIOBE
Asimov considers the Niobe allusion first (II.93-94):
. . . Hamlet is angry with his mother [. . .]. She had seemed so in love with his father, had mourned so at his death-
. . . she followed my poor father's bodyNiobe was one of the more pathetic characters in Greek myth. She had six sons and six daughters and boasted her superiority to the goddess Latona (Leto), who had only one son and one daughter. Of course, Latona's children happened to be the god Apollo and the goddess Diana (see pages I-130), and they avenged the slur on their mother by shooting down Niobe's children with their divine arrows. Niobe wept endlessly at their deaths until, in belated compassion, the gods turned her into stone - a stone which still welled water. (93-94)
Like Niobe, all tears . . .
- Act 1, scene ii, lines 148-49
This is a helpful explanation of why Hamlet should compare his mother's tears at his father's funeral to Niobe: We need to know why Niobe of Greek mythical tales is famous for tears, and Asimov provides the very explanation we require.
But here's the rub: By comparing his mother to Niobe, whose children who were all killed, Hamlet's allusion foreshadows his own death. If Niobe is not famous for mourning the death of a husband (like another Greek allusion Hamlet makes with the players), but rather, for the death of her children, this matters and resonates with meaning.
If Shakespeare's original audience was more familiar with those tales, then for those in the original audiences who knew the Niobe tale, it offered automatic recognition as an allusion about a mother who suffered the death of her children and was inconsolable. For audiences today, unfamiliar with the Niobe tale, we have to fumble a bit to understand, but Asimov provides the needed help.
THE NEMEAN LION'S NERVE
Later, Asimov describes the scene (Act 1, scene iv) in which Horatio tries to convince Hamlet not to follow the ghost to speak with it. In part, Hamlet responds, and then Asimov explains the reference:
My fate cries out- Act I, scene iv, lines 81-83
And makes each petty artery in this body
As hardy as the Nemean's lion's nerve.
(The reference is to the beast whose slaying represented the first labor of Hercules. It was an enormous lion of superstrength that infested the valley of Nemea, see page I-58.)
Asimov's two-volume work is self-referential in this way: His first volume includes parts I, II, and III (Greek, Roman, and Italian plays), so in the second volume, if he has already discussed related material in earlier parts, he refers the reader to those sections for more details.
We might note not only what Hamlet says, but also what he doesn't say: In his strong desire to speak to the apparition and prepare for any possible bad or shocking news, Hamlet does not tell Horatio that his "fate cries out / And makes each petty artery in this body / As hardy as the" - nerve of Hercules, facing the Nemean lion? No, in the allusion, Hamlet associates himself with the lion that will die at Hercules' hands. So Shakespeare has constructed the text in such a way as to offer another foreshadowing of Hamlet's death.
We might also note that the story of Hercules and the Nemean lion involves other aspects of sons and sacrifice: As the Wikipedia article on "Nemean Lion" (in its section on the "First Labor of Hercules") notes,
Heracles wandered the area until he came to the town of Cleonae. There he met a boy who said that if Heracles slew the Nemean lion and returned alive within 30 days, the town would sacrifice a lion to Zeus; but if he did not return within 30 days or he died, the boy would sacrifice himself to Zeus.Something will be sacrificed whether Hercules succeeds or not: If not a lion, if Hercules succeeds, then if he fails, the boy will sacrifice himself. So by this version of the tale, Hercules' first labor is perhaps that he risks his his own life in an effort to save the boy from sacrificing his life.
[Accessed 9/28/2020]
This is reminiscent of "substitutionary atonement" (something I've discussed along with incestuous royal marriages and lay investiture, in a previous post), like Jesus dying to save others, or like Hamlet risking the danger of the duel with Laertes to stop Claudius from causing more harm:
And is't not to be damnedHamlet, 5.2.3572-74
To let this canker of our nature come
In further evil?
A similar theme of sacrificial love is found in the Gospel of John, 15:13: "Greater love than this hath no man, when any man bestoweth his life for his friends." (Geneva translation)
When Hamlet evokes the memory of the tale of the Nemean lion, many of these other associations are evoked along with it; but for this moment in the play, this allusion, like that of Niobe, hints at his own defeat.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THIS POST IS PART OF A LARGER SERIES, reflecting on an in reaction toIsaac Asimov's treatment of Hamlet in his two-volume work, Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Notes on Asimov on Hamlet:
Part 7: Overall Major Stengths & Weaknesses (Asimov on Hamlet)
Part 6: Why Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Must Die
Part 5: Chameleon Hamlet & 1 Cor 9
Part 4: Suicide, Survival, Adaptivity, & Resistance
Part 3: Power-Broker Polonius, Ungenerous Jephthah
Part 2: Niobe & the Nemean Lion
Part 1: Wicked Uncles
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disclaimer: If and when I quote or paraphrase bible passages in many of my blog posts, I do not intend to promote any religion over any other, nor am I attempting to promote religious belief in general; only to point out how the Bible may have influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 subscribing.
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