Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

How Can an Owl Be a Baker’s Daughter? Shakespeare offers a Lazarus allusion in Hamlet 1.5 (couched in a compound word, "lazar-like"). We find things analogous to rich men and beggars in earlier and later scenes (as shown in 1.3 with Ophelia , and in 2.2 with the players , among other such analogous moments). An indirect allusion to the Lazarus tale also comes in 4.5, when Ophelia says, "They say the owl was a baker's daughter." (4.5.2784) The connection of this statement to the Lazarus tale is easy to miss for audiences unfamiliar with the folktale of a beggar treated ungenerously by a baker's daughter. In that tale, a baker is not literally a rich man, but at least rich in bread. When a beggar comes to the door, he readies dough to bake in order to feed the beggar, but after it rises, the daughter repeatedly tells him to make it smaller. He does, but each of three times, it rises even more. The beggar in disguise was Jesus in some versions of the...

Thank you to readers of this blog for this past week, which the blog's analytics say came to 213 views from the following 19+ countries: The blog's analytics only list up to 19 countries, so the bottom listing of "other" views may be from 18 other countries, or it may include readers whose browsers block tracking of nation of origin. But whether your country is listed or not, thank you 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.

Here are links to three items of Shakespeare-related humor: 1. The first is a comic by John Atkinson (via his Wrong Hands website), " Jukebox Shakespeare ," listing song recommendations for Shakespeare plays: 2. The second is by Katie Burgess, available at Medium.com, , a satire of austerity economics as conducted and justified by Claudius , who decides to decrease funding for the arts after viewing "The Mousetrap." 3. The third is from McSweeney's ("Internet Tendency: Daily Humor Almost Every Day Since 1998"), by Stehpen Ruddy, and imagines Shakespeare in heaven, meeting Walter Mondale, who asks him if Edward De Vere wrote his plays (the "Shakespeare authorship question"). All three of these are funny and short, each worth a read. For those who are unfamiliar with Walter Mondale, he was Vice President under Jimmy Carter, lost to Ronald Reagan in a presidential bid, but is famous in part for having been instrumental in arranging ...

This is just a brief post to alert my readers to a new stage/film production of Romeo and Juliet. You can view it at this link : https://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/romeo-juliet-about/12239/ [Photo by Rob Youngson via PBS .] Here's a review by Jesse Green for the New York Times : https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/22/theater/review-romeo-and-juliet-josh-oconnor-jessie-buckley.html I have not viewed it yet, but I've heard enough good things about it to consider it worth viewing soon (before May 21, when the review above says it will no longer be available at PBS). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks for reading! My current project is a book tentatively titled Hamlet’s Bible , about biblical allusi...

Happy Birthday, William #Shakespeare! His poems and plays entertained Elizabethan and Jacobean #England, and later the world, became the object of scholarly study and a tool of English colonialism and empire. Many students come to marvel at his work, but reading Shakespeare, or enjoying performances of it, is an acquired taste: Many students recall - with something less than fondness - their Shakespeare requirements in school. Not only are there specific films that retell Shakespeare tales (like "Big Business" with Lily Tomlin and Bette Midler, or "10 Things I Hate About You" with Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger), but Shakespeare influenced many other later works of comedy, drama, and revenge, even as he himself was influenced by writers before him. Have you a favorite Shakespeare poem or play? A story of a teaching or learning experience involving Shakespeare? (I have many....) To what extent is Shakespeare a destructive cultural influence in the world, u...

This is part 10 in a series on the allusion in Hamlet 1.5 to the beggar Lazarus in Luke 16. Previous posts have considered aspects of leprosy in England ("Lazar-houses,"), the legal status of beggars and vagabonds, and some aspects of the historical context of the Biblical tale in its original context. For an index of posts in this series, see the end of this post. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SOMETIMES, part of the fun of research is what one finds by accident in the process of looking for other things. This was the case in my search for the official homilies of Cranmer and Jewell mentioning beggar Lazarus of Luke 16, alluded to by the ghost in Hamlet 1.5. There are three such homilies. This blog post contains my annotations for the first, “An Exhortation Against the Fear of Death.” We cannot travel back in time and experience what it might have been like to attend Shakespeare's Hamlet at the Globe, and then attend church and hear sermons of Cranmer a...