Halloween Hamlet and SCSC conference in Minneapolis

With, hoo! such bugs and goblins in my life...

Hamlet 5.2.25 [1]

This is my favorite Halloween-themed line in Hamlet, from the last scene, at the start of which Hamlet describes to Horatio how he discovered the letter with orders from Claudius for England to execute Hamlet (by beheading) upon their ship's arrival there.

In the USA, we are approaching Halloween, the evening of 31 October, "All Hallows Eve," before All Saints Day. Children dress in costumes, go door to door and ask, "Trick or treat?" and often receive a treat of some kind. Usually too much manufactured sugary-candy (one of the reasons the USA has so many diabetics...).

2022 SCSC, Minneapolis:
This Year, the Sixteenth Century Society and Conference has its convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota, only about an hour's drive from where I live. I will be giving a paper/presentation touching on how Shakespeare had to carefully encode his critique of government and the state religion, and how in the case of Hamlet, this sometimes involved Biblical allusions or plot echoes.

For people who have long followed me on LinkedIn or regularly read my blog, there are some familiar examples:
- Polonius as a satire of William Cecil.
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2020/12/william-cecil-top-among-12-polonius.html

- Polonius and Laertes using the word "prodigal" to strike fear and shame in the heart of Ophelia.
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/01/getting-prodigal-wrong-in-hamlet-13.html

- Polonius asking Ophelia to read a book as she waits for Hamlet, and as she acts as bait so that Polonius and Claudius can spy on them. Polonius wants Ophelia to look like common paintings and illustrations of Mary, reading a book of Psalms at the Annunciation.
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/05/ophelias-prayer-book-annunciation-of.html

- Polonius and Claudius spying on Ophelia and Hamlet, like the two corrupt elders or judges spying on Susanna.
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/02/ophelia-elizabeth-i-suzannah-jephthahs.html

- The use of the world "Strange" in the first act, associated with the poisoned ghost, as a possible reference to the poisoned Lord Strange.
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2021/04/welcome-lazarus-lord-stranges-men-for.html

- The Jonah echo in Hamlet's sea voyage, and the inclusion of Claudius' letter that Hamlet changes to an execution order for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/05/hamlets-unnamed-ghost-of-jonah-and.html

- The Emmaus echo in the graveyard scene, as a possible rethinking of that Bible passage.
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/05/hamlet-emmaus-eucharistic-controversy.html

Each of these can be read as critical of the English government or its Church in some way, or as talking back to the propaganda of the time.

I'm looking forward to giving my presentation, and to the convention: The program has many sessions that look very interesting. If you attend, look for me and say hello!

NOTES:
[1] All references to Hamlet are to the Folger online version:
https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/hamlet/entire-play/

IMAGES:
Top left: Arthur Rackham (1867-1939), Spider and Fly, 1912, from illustrated Aesop's fables, Public Domain, via Wikimedia.org and Archive.org:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aesop%27s_fables_(1912)_(14780526854).jpg
https://archive.org/details/aesopsfables00aeso/page/n283/mode/1up?view=theater

Top right:
Arthur Rackham (1867–1939), "Goblin Market," book by Christina Rossetti  (1830–1894), illustration dated 1933, J. B. Lippincott & Co., Public Domain, via Wikimedia.org:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Goblin_Market_032.jpg

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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 explore how the Bible and religion influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
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Thanks for reading!
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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

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