Preview: Other instances of Lazarus/lazar/beg/beggar/poor in Shakespeare
We are still in the middle of a good raspberry-picking season, but here's a preview of what's coming:
LAZARUS: The works of Shakespeare contain the word "Lazarus" only once, in 1 Henry IV, from Falstaff, who also mentions "prodigal" ("lazar" appears once in Hamlet, "prodigal" twice). This is interesting because both Hamlet and 1 Henry IV are about princes (Hamlet, Hal) with strained relationships with distant biological fathers; each finds an affectionate surrogate father in a fool/clown figure (Yorick, Falstaff).
("Prodigal" appears 25 times in Shakespeare's works.)
LAZAR: Shakespeare's works use the word "lazar" (derived from the beggar Lazarus in Luke 16) five other times besides in the word "Lazarus": once in Hamlet; twice in Henry V; and twice in Troilus and Cressida.
Often "lazar" may simply refer to leprosy or unattractive skin conditions associated with the poor and outcasts. Occasionally, as in Hamlet, it may be suggestive of the rich man - Lazarus gospel tale.
BEG/BEGGAR/POOR: The word "beg" occurs in some form about 270 times; "beggar" occurs 113 times; sometimes these occur in interesting ways, and/or in association with kings. "Poor" occurs 646 times. I will try to consider these chronologically, and to highlight some of special interest.
WHOLE PLAYS: There are also whole Shakespeare plays that resonate with the themes of the beggar/outcast, contrasted with a rich or powerful person who acted selfishly or oppressively. Beggars can be made kings, and kings brought low and made beggars. (For starters consider Richard II, King Lear, or The Winter's Tale, and even The Tempest).
Future blog posts will explore some of these, starting with Lazarus and Falstaff.
Until then, I'll be picking berries.
[Author photo.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MORE TO COME: This is part in a multi-part series on how the Lazarus allusion in Hamlet 1.5 can be considered as a mirror held up to the play, or a lens through which to view various characters, scenes, themes, and plot elements. There are a variety of beggar Lazarus figures, and people who are beggars in one scene might be something else in another.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
POSTS IN THIS SERIES SO FAR:
1. New Series: Lazarus & Dives (the Rich Man) in Hamlet - 16 February, 2021
2. If the Ghost was Like the Rich Man, Who was His Lazarus? - 23 February, 2021
3. Illegal to be Beggar Lazarus in Shakespeare's England - 3 March, 2021
4. Beggars & Players' Ill Report: Polonius Measuring, Being Measured - 9 March, 2021
5. Sleuthing Hamlet's Lazarus Echoes in their Biblical Contexts & Implications - 16 March, 2021
6. Ophelia in 1.3 as the Beggar Lazarus - 23 March, 2021
7. Beggars, Thieves, & Cranmer’s Conflations - 30 March, 2021
8. Welcome Lazarus & Lord Strange's Men, for You Were Once Strangers - 5 April, 2021
9. Lazarus & the Beggar-Thief-Rioter-Revolutionary Continuum - 13 April, 2021
10. Lazarus & other Hamlet-correlations in Cranmer's Homily IX - 20 April, 2021
11. The Beggar Lazarus at the Baker's Door in Hamlet 4.5 - 27 April, 2021
12. Jewell's Homily V & Lazarus-Hamlet-Claudius Correlations - 4 May, 2021
13. Beggars and Rich Men at Ophelia's Grave - 18 May, 2021
14. Hamlet Nunnery Scene Haunted by Homily VI, Book 2 - 25 May, 2021
15. Hamlet, beggar-prince: Horatio's allusion to Lazarus and requiem Mass in 5.2 - 1 June, 2021
16. Monarchs as Beggars’ Shadows: Lazarus in Hamlet 2.2 - 8 June, 2021
17. Kings, Beggars, Worms, Excrement, Eucharist, Buddha Bunny, and Lazarus in Hamlet 4.3 - 14 June, 2021
18. In service of art: How art may have influenced the Lazarus theme in Hamlet - 22 June, 2021
19. Preview: Other instances of Lazarus/lazar/beg/beggar/poor in Shakespeare - 13 July, 2021
20. Lazarus & prodigals in Henry IV, Part I, and in Hamlet - 20 July, 2021
21. Other instances of "lazar" in Shakespeare besides Hamlet - 27 July, 2021
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shakespeare quotes: All quotes from Hamlet in older posts have been taken from the Modern (spelling), Editor's Version at InternetShakespeare via the University of Victoria in Canada. In this post and in the future, I will be taking them also from The Folger Shakespeare Library, and will note the source.
- To find them in the first place, I often use the advanced search feature at OpenSourceShakespeare.org.
Bible quotes from the Geneva translation, widely available to people of Shakespeare's time, are taken from an internet source somewhat close to their original spelling, from studybible.info, and in a modern spelling, from biblegateway.com.
- Quotes from the Bishop's bible, also available in Shakespeare's lifetime and read in church, are taken from studybible.info.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 another, 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.
LAZARUS: The works of Shakespeare contain the word "Lazarus" only once, in 1 Henry IV, from Falstaff, who also mentions "prodigal" ("lazar" appears once in Hamlet, "prodigal" twice). This is interesting because both Hamlet and 1 Henry IV are about princes (Hamlet, Hal) with strained relationships with distant biological fathers; each finds an affectionate surrogate father in a fool/clown figure (Yorick, Falstaff).
("Prodigal" appears 25 times in Shakespeare's works.)
LAZAR: Shakespeare's works use the word "lazar" (derived from the beggar Lazarus in Luke 16) five other times besides in the word "Lazarus": once in Hamlet; twice in Henry V; and twice in Troilus and Cressida.
Often "lazar" may simply refer to leprosy or unattractive skin conditions associated with the poor and outcasts. Occasionally, as in Hamlet, it may be suggestive of the rich man - Lazarus gospel tale.
BEG/BEGGAR/POOR: The word "beg" occurs in some form about 270 times; "beggar" occurs 113 times; sometimes these occur in interesting ways, and/or in association with kings. "Poor" occurs 646 times. I will try to consider these chronologically, and to highlight some of special interest.
WHOLE PLAYS: There are also whole Shakespeare plays that resonate with the themes of the beggar/outcast, contrasted with a rich or powerful person who acted selfishly or oppressively. Beggars can be made kings, and kings brought low and made beggars. (For starters consider Richard II, King Lear, or The Winter's Tale, and even The Tempest).
Future blog posts will explore some of these, starting with Lazarus and Falstaff.
Until then, I'll be picking berries.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MORE TO COME: This is part in a multi-part series on how the Lazarus allusion in Hamlet 1.5 can be considered as a mirror held up to the play, or a lens through which to view various characters, scenes, themes, and plot elements. There are a variety of beggar Lazarus figures, and people who are beggars in one scene might be something else in another.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
POSTS IN THIS SERIES SO FAR:
1. New Series: Lazarus & Dives (the Rich Man) in Hamlet - 16 February, 2021
2. If the Ghost was Like the Rich Man, Who was His Lazarus? - 23 February, 2021
3. Illegal to be Beggar Lazarus in Shakespeare's England - 3 March, 2021
4. Beggars & Players' Ill Report: Polonius Measuring, Being Measured - 9 March, 2021
5. Sleuthing Hamlet's Lazarus Echoes in their Biblical Contexts & Implications - 16 March, 2021
6. Ophelia in 1.3 as the Beggar Lazarus - 23 March, 2021
7. Beggars, Thieves, & Cranmer’s Conflations - 30 March, 2021
8. Welcome Lazarus & Lord Strange's Men, for You Were Once Strangers - 5 April, 2021
9. Lazarus & the Beggar-Thief-Rioter-Revolutionary Continuum - 13 April, 2021
10. Lazarus & other Hamlet-correlations in Cranmer's Homily IX - 20 April, 2021
11. The Beggar Lazarus at the Baker's Door in Hamlet 4.5 - 27 April, 2021
12. Jewell's Homily V & Lazarus-Hamlet-Claudius Correlations - 4 May, 2021
13. Beggars and Rich Men at Ophelia's Grave - 18 May, 2021
14. Hamlet Nunnery Scene Haunted by Homily VI, Book 2 - 25 May, 2021
15. Hamlet, beggar-prince: Horatio's allusion to Lazarus and requiem Mass in 5.2 - 1 June, 2021
16. Monarchs as Beggars’ Shadows: Lazarus in Hamlet 2.2 - 8 June, 2021
17. Kings, Beggars, Worms, Excrement, Eucharist, Buddha Bunny, and Lazarus in Hamlet 4.3 - 14 June, 2021
18. In service of art: How art may have influenced the Lazarus theme in Hamlet - 22 June, 2021
19. Preview: Other instances of Lazarus/lazar/beg/beggar/poor in Shakespeare - 13 July, 2021
20. Lazarus & prodigals in Henry IV, Part I, and in Hamlet - 20 July, 2021
21. Other instances of "lazar" in Shakespeare besides Hamlet - 27 July, 2021
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shakespeare quotes: All quotes from Hamlet in older posts have been taken from the Modern (spelling), Editor's Version at InternetShakespeare via the University of Victoria in Canada. In this post and in the future, I will be taking them also from The Folger Shakespeare Library, and will note the source.
- To find them in the first place, I often use the advanced search feature at OpenSourceShakespeare.org.
Bible quotes from the Geneva translation, widely available to people of Shakespeare's time, are taken from an internet source somewhat close to their original spelling, from studybible.info, and in a modern spelling, from biblegateway.com.
- Quotes from the Bishop's bible, also available in Shakespeare's lifetime and read in church, are taken from studybible.info.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 another, 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.
Comments
Post a Comment