Catholic Bias in Simon Augustus Blackmore (Part 5: Religious Bias in Shakespeare Scholarship)

Simon A. Blackmore, a Jesuit priest, wrote a lengthy work called The Riddles of Hamlet and the Newest Answers (1917). He demonstrates his own unique bias, including the assumption that Shakespeare was Catholic.

The book can be read for free online; its title is reminiscent of the Baltimore Catechism (1885), which imagined in advance all the questions that the faithful might ask which the church believed most important, and then offered definitive answers. This is a far cry from more recent scholars who observe that the play raises more questions than it answers.

While the book contains many helpful insights, it is also deeply problematic. Examples:

1. Blackmore (like other Catholic scholars) is very happy that the play seems to offer a ghost from purgatory (17, 142 n., 152-4, 262, 387), mostly neglecting that the ghost may be a devil in disguise (not an impossibility for Catholics, but something he’d rather avoid)

2. Blackmore resists the idea that Hamlet as a student at Wittenberg alludes to Luther and the reformation. He claims that the play is set in a specific pre-reformation historical period and therefore can’t allude to Luther (11-16, 30-34).

3. Blackmore believes that God uses the ghost to commission Hamlet to avenge the murder, with God’s vengeance as the goal (134-145).

4. While Protestants believe in salvation by “faith alone,” Catholics place importance also on “cooperating grace,” human choices and actions participating in divine grace. Blackmore goes too far, imagining that Hamlet had planned for a sea-rendezvous with pirates, making Hamlet himself the source of his own salvation at sea, something not caused by the mysterious and serendipitous action of a merciful providence (389-393). This is not supported by the text.

5. Blackmore assumes Gertrude is a gossip who made up the story of Ophelia’s accidental drowning in order to spare Laertes’ feelings and avoid a revolt (403-4). (This is by no means the only possibility.)

6. Blackmore assumes that the priest at Ophelia’s burial is Catholic, correct to withhold additional ceremony that Laertes wants (405-9, 416-27), and that Laertes is wrong to hope for more.

7. Instead of basing his argument in favor of Fortinbras as Denmark's successor on the importance of Hamlet's gesture of reparation, Blackmore bases it on the blood-claim of Fortinbras as prince (481-4). Blackmore is very pro-monarchy in this way, neglecting Fortinbras' flaws and the elective monarchy.

8. Blackmore downplays Hamlet’s hesitation as motivated mostly by Christian scruples (15-16), downplays the sins of the ghost (134-6), and is too kind overall in his effort to make Hamlet the virtuous and good hero.

Nothing against Catholics (or Jesuits) who are Shakespeare scholars, but there is more in the play than is dreamt of in Blackmore’s philosophy. Read with a grain (or shaker) of salt.

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Series on Religious (and a few other) Biases in Shakespeare Scholarship:
1. Biases & Assumptions Influence What We Notice, Seek, or Neglect - 11 January, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/01/biases-assumptions-influence-what-we.html

2. Religious Bias in Shakespeare/Hamlet Scholarship - 18 January, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/01/part-2-factors-contributing-to.html

3. Victors Wrote the Histories of Shakespeare and Francis of Assisi - 25 January, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/01/victors-wrote-history-of-shakespeare.html

4. Biblical Seeds of Secular Shakespeare Bias - 1 February, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/02/biblical-seeds-of-secular-shakespeare.html

5. Catholic Bias in Simon Augustus Blackmore - 8 February, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/02/catholic-bias-in-simon-augustus.html

6. Nietzschean & Christian-Mythical Bias in G. Wilson Knight - 15 February, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/02/nietzschean-christian-mythical-bias-in.html

7. Roland Frye's Protestant Bias - 22 February, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/02/roland-fryes-protestant-bias.html

8. Gatekeeping and Religious Turns in Shakespeare Scholarship - 1 March, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/03/gatekeeping-and-religious-turns-in.html

9. Honigmann, Hammerschmidt−Hummel, and Moses' Shoes - 8 March, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/03/taking-off-shoes-in-presence-of.html

10. Protestant Bias in Arthur McGee's 1987 book, "The Elizabethan Hamlet" - 15 March, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/03/protestant-bias-in-arthur-mcgees-1987.html

11. Catholic Bias in Clare Asquith's 2005 book, "Shadowplay" - 22 March, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/03/catholic-bias-in-clare-asquiths-2005.html

12. Protestant and authoritarian bias in Roy W. Battenhouse - 29 March, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/03/battenhouses-authoritarian-protestant.html


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Disclaimer: If and when I quote or paraphrase bible passages or mention religion 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 and religion may have influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
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