(Part 1) Hamlet as the Boy Jesus among Temple Elders
INDEX OF POSTS IN THIS SERIES:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/01/index-hamlet-in-32-as-boy-jesus-lost.html
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After the play-within-the-play, in conversation with Rosencrantz, Hamlet implies that he has amazed and astonished his mother like the boy Jesus did when his parents found him with the elders in the Temple.
I’ve omitted some parts of the Hamlet text so as to focus more closely on the applicable parts below.
Compare the text from the play, below, to the text from 2:46-52 (Geneva), which was read every January in Shakespeare's lifetime on the Sunday after Epiphany: [1]
GUILDENSTERN: The King …
Is …marvelous distempered....
The Queen your mother, in most great
affliction of spirit, hath sent me to you.
...your behavior hath
struck her into *amazement* and admiration.
HAMLET: O wonderful son that can so *’stonish* [astonish] a mother!
(3.2.325-356) [2]
Compare Luke 2:46-52 (Geneva):
46 And it came to pass three days after, that they found him in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions:
47 And all that heard him, were [*astonished*] at his understanding and answers.
48 So when they saw him, they were *amazed,* and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee with very heavy hearts.
49 Then said he unto them, How is it that ye sought me? knew ye not that I must go about my Father’s business?
50 But they understood not the word that he spake to them.
51 Then he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them: and his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
52 And Jesus increased in wisdom, and stature, and in favor with God and men. [3]
[*Emphasis* mine, "astonied" changed above to "astonished."]
[Bishop's trans. read in church has "astonied" and "amased."]
This is interesting (perhaps humorous, shocking, ironic) in a variety of ways:
Like Jesus who amazed an audience for one set of reasons, and his concerned parents (Mary and step-father Joseph) for another set of reasons, Hamlet would like to think - or jokes - that he is like the boy Jesus.
In moments, Hamlet will consider killing Claudius at prayer in revenge for his father’s death, but he decides to delay so he can catch Claudius in the act of something sinful when he dies, so as to send Claudius to hell. (Hamlet seems to want to play God in judging Claudius and determining his eternal fate).
(What would Jesus do in Hamlet's place?)
Then in his mother’s closet, Hamlet will stab someone hidden behind an arras that he takes for Claudius, but it turns out he has killed Polonius. Oops.
(Would Jesus have stabbed Polonius? Yikes.)
Hamlet as the boy Jesus among the elders? An allusion in an avalanche of irony and cognitive dissonance?
What was Shakespeare thinking, to write Rosencrantz as setting up this joke, and Hamlet with the ironic punchline?
In the next post in this series, I will explore some of the history of how the story of the boy Jesus among the Elders was included as one of the mysteries of the Rosary by Shakespeare’s time, and also had (and later continued to have) a rich history of artistic efforts to portray the scene. Future posts will explore other considerations.
But for now we might ponder a bit:
Why would Shakespeare write his character of Prince Hamlet in such a way that the prince makes this allusion to Luke 2:46-52?
Also, this allusion by Hamlet to Luke 2 has not been noted by the major authors who have written books on Shakespeare and the Bible, including
Charles Wordsworth (1865),
William Burgess (1903),
Thomas Carter (1905),
Richmond Noble (1935),
Peter Milward (1987), and
Naseeb Shaheen (1999).
What details in the text, or critical/scholarly assumptions, may have been holding these six authors back from noticing Hamlet’s allusion to Luke 2?
(All speculation is welcome; feel free to comment).
Next week: More analysis.
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Note 9/23/2023:
After Hamlet listens to the players, he is already aspiring to amaze and make the guilty mad:
HAMLET:
What would he do
Had he the motive and the cue for passion
That I have? He would drown the stage with tears,
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,
Make mad the guilty, and appal the free,
Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed
The very faculties of eyes and ears. (2.2.587-593)
So this theme doesn't begin after The Mousetrap, but is perhaps begun earlier, here, to be picked up and developed more fully later.
After The Mousetrap, the theme of a mother's amazement continues with the ghost's words:
Do not forget. This visitation
Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.
But look, amazement on thy mother sits.
O, step between her and her fighting soul. (3.4.126-129)
Instead of speaking with the elders of the temple, Hamlet is speaking with his own elder, his father's ghost, and this amazes Gertrude, according to the ghost.
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NOTES: An earlier version of this blog post had "synagogue" instead of "temple," but the scripture passage clearly says the temple in Jerusalem. My error.
[1] See page 95, John H. Booty, ed., The Book of Common Prayer 1559: The Elizabethan Prayer Book, Published for the Folger Shakespeare Library by University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, 1976.
[2] All references to Hamlet are to the Folger Shakespeare Library online version: https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/hamlet/entire-play/
[3] See Bible Gateway for this modern spelling version of the Geneva translation: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%202%3A41-52&version=GNV
See StudyBible.info for original spelling: https://studybible.info/Geneva/Luke%202:41-52
IMAGE:
(cropped to focus on details of interest; links to full image below.)
Disputation with the Doctors, c1308-1311, Duccio di Buoninsegna, Museo dell'Opera Metropolitana del Duomo. Public domain, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Duccio_di_Buoninsegna_-_Disputation_with_the_Doctors_-_WGA06768.jpg
Notice that this image includes Mary and Joseph arriving (far left); other paintings portray moments before their arrival.
The original image is actually much taller than my cropped version for purposes of this post: The high walls and arches make it seem that the building itself is another important character in the story:
"angels in the architecture spinning in infinity" as the Paul Simon song says (song, "You Can Call Me Al").
Not only is the building like another character in the story, but the architecture, design, and execution include angels as other characters, watching over the scene.
This may contradict certain sensibilities regarding religious prohibition of images, but the painting is not a Jewish or Islamic painting, but a Christian one, created in a context that welcomed such images.
Notice also the importance of hand gestures in the painting, perhaps more than facial expressions....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ INDEX of posts in this series:
(Part 1) Hamlet as the Boy Jesus among Temple Elders
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/01/hamlet-as-boy-jesus-among-synagogue.html
(Part 2) Hamlet as boy Jesus among Temple Elders: Historical-Artistic Background
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/02/hamlet-as-boy-jesus-among-temple-elders.html
(Part 3) Hamlet as the boy Jesus among Temple Elders: A closer look
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/02/hamlet-as-boy-jesus-among-temple-elders_14.html
(Part 4 ) Dissonance and Irony in Hamlet's 3.2 Allusion to Luke 2
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/02/part-4-dissonance-and-irony-in-hamlets.html
(Part 5) The targets of Hamlet's 3.2 ironic allusion to Luke 2:46-52
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/02/part-5-targets-of-hamlets-32-ironic.html
(Part 6) Hamlet in 3.2 as the boy Jesus among temple elders: Plucking mysteries' hearts?
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/03/part-6-hamlet-in-32-as-boy-jesus.html
(Part 7) Hamlet’s allusion in 3.2 to the boy Jesus: Hamlet as Abbott, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as Costellos?
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/03/part-7-hamlets-allusion-in-32-to-boy.html
(Part 8) Hamlet in 3.2 as the boy Jesus: Why has this been missed?
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/03/part-8-hamlet-in-32-as-boy-jesus-why.html
(Part 9) Twisting the tale of the boy Jesus in the temple: Bishop Jewell, official book of homilies
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/04/part-9-twisting-tale-of-boy-jesus-in.html
(Part 10) A Boy Amazing Elders (and audience) in Shakespeare's Macbeth
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/04/part-10-boy-amazes-mother-in.html
(Part 11) Cordelia in 4.4 is about her father's business in Shakespeare's King Lear
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/04/part-11-cordelia-in-44-is-about-her.html
(Part 12) TRY THIS: One Method for Considering Biblical Allusions
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/05/part-12-try-this-one-method-for.html
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INDEX OF POSTS IN THIS SERIES:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/01/index-hamlet-in-32-as-boy-jesus-lost.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.
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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