Part 2, Hamlet and inherited debt (2 Kings 4:1-7): "when you are desirous to be blest, I’ll blessing beg of you"

Last week I began considering Hamlet’s line to Gertrude, “when you are desirous to be blest, I’ll blessing beg of you” (3.4.192-3). [1] The idea of asking a blessing of a person in need led to Hebrew stories of Elijah and the widow(s): Elijah asks a favor before doing the needed miraculous work.

This week, I will consider a third story of Elijah and the widow (2 Kings 4:1-7) [2] in which a woman’s husband died and left the family in debt. The widow’s sons are to go into debt slavery to repay the husband’s debts.

Elijah asks what she has (a jar of oil), and tells her to collect vessels from neighbors. She collects as many as they will give her. Elijah tells her to fill these with oil from her jar, which she does. The oil does not run out until all of the vessels she collected from her neighbors are full. As further instructed from Elijah, she sells these, and in this way, she pays off her dead husband’s debts, and her sons are thereby saved. [3]

WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH HAMLET?
The ghost in Hamlet claims he is in purgatory, which is like debtors' prison for those who died in sin. The ghost passes to Hamlet his sin-debt by asking him to avenge his murder. If Hamlet does this in the wrong spirit, he could inherit the same debt of sin that his father died with, and he could go to purgatory or to hell like his father.

So Hamlet is like one of the sons of the widow whose husband died and left his family with debts. Hamlet's line to his mother speaks as if they are both in debt, needing blessing: "when you are desirous to be blest, I’ll blessing beg of you." In the understanding of Christians of Shakespeare's age, if we are all in heaven's debt, all life and blessings come to us like gifts from heaven.

But like the story of Elijah and the widow who finds a way to redeem her sons from debt slavery, maybe Gertrude can help free her son the inherited debt of sin?

Hamlet wants his mother to repent of having married his father’s murderer. When she has repented and desires to be blessed, he will ask a blessing of her. In contrast to Claudius who plots to kill Hamlet, Gertrude is a positive influence on other characters after the closet scene, and by drinking the poison cup, she may save Hamlet’s life for a few moments, and give him time to do what he must do. In this way, she may save her son from some of the burden of the sin-debts of his father. See previous blog post on this topic here: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/10/gertrude-as-recipient-giver-of-gifts.html

In these ways, the story of Elijah helping the widow redeem her sons from the debts of their father (and from debt slavery) works as an analogy of sorts for the plot of Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet.

In the next post I will explore whether what Hamlet says about Gertrude comes true: Does she desire to be blessed, and does Hamlet, or some surrogate or extension of Hamlet, ask a blessing of her? Does it make a difference?

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

2. 2 Kings 4:1-7, read in church in Shakespeare's lifetime every April 25 at evening prayer. BCP p.39.

3. First, we might make an observation about the probable origins of these stories about the famous prophet Elijah being sent to help widows. It is my guess that such stories originate in lands where some people value taking care of widows and orphans, but they notice that this work is often neglected. The stories champion the virtue of helping the widow and the orphan, and this promotes good will in a society that is improving in its care for the most vulnerable.

Second, we should also observe that such stories (even in our own time) are often twisted by conservatives who wish to demonize and blame the poor for social ills. The story says Elijah first asks the widow what she has, and then instructs her how to go about networking with her neighbors. Conservatives like to say “God helps them that help themselves,” and like Pontius Pilate who thinks he can wash his hands of guilt for the execution of Jesus, they would like to wash their hands of responsibility for the poor by saying the poor are too lazy; They don’t work as hard as the widow that Elijah helped.... If there is any justice in the universe, and if there is an afterlife, I suppose there may be a special place in hell reserved for such conservatives, as described in the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. See previous blog series: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2021/02/new-series-on-rich-man-lazarus.html

THREE-IMAGE COLLAGE on Elijah raising widow’s son:
Left: Ms. Ludwig IX 19 (83.ML.115), fol. 70, detail: “Border with Elijah Raising the Son of the Widow of Sareptha,” circa 1525–1530, Simon Bening (Flemish, circa 1483 - 1561). No copyright (Public Domain), via Getty: https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/107SF6

Center: Simone Brentana (1656-1742), “Elijah [restoring the son of] the Widow of Zarephath,” before 1742. Pubic Domain, via Wikimedia, via art.net (past auction): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brentana-Elijah.jpg

Right: Elijah Raising the Widow's Son, ca.1522 to 1526, by Rensig, Everhard, Lower Rhine (Germany). Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Public Domain, via https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O64900/elijah-raising-the-widows-son-panel-rensig-everhard/?carousel-image=2006AL0058

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Posts in this series:

Part 1, Hamlet to Gertrude: "when you are desirous to be blest, I’ll blessing beg of you"
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/11/hamlet-to-gertrude-when-you-are.html

Part 2, Hamlet and inherited debt (2 Kings 4:1-7): "when you are desirous to be blest, I’ll blessing beg of you"
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/12/part-2-hamlet-and-inherited-debt-2.html

Part 3: When you are desirous to be blest, I’ll blessing beg of you
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/12/part-3-when-you-are-desirous-to-be.html

Part 4: Gertrude's Blessings: Does it matter? - Part 4
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/12/gertrudes-blessings-does-it-matter-part.html

See also my previous post, "Gertrude as Recipient & Source of Gifts: Labors of Gratitude & Regret in Hamlet, part 9": https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/10/gertrude-as-recipient-giver-of-gifts.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 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.

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