(Part 4 ) Dissonance and Irony in Hamlet's 3.2 Allusion to Luke 2

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
INDEX OF POSTS IN THIS SERIES:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/01/index-hamlet-in-32-as-boy-jesus-lost.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

IRONY: In the third act, Hamlet makes a subtle allusion, implying that he astonishes his mother like the boy Jesus astonished his mother the Virgin Mary and amazed the temple elders.
- But in spite of all the points of similarity listed in my last post [1] regarding Hamlet’s allusion, there may be even more ways in which Hamlet is quite different from the boy Jesus. The tension or dissonance between these similarities and differences is an important source of irony.

(For a comparison of the relevant Hamlet text [2] to the relevant gospel text from Luke, [3], see Part 1 of this series [4].)

HOW IS HAMLET UNLIKE THE BOY JESUS? A non-exhaustive list:
1. Hamlet is a revenger. Audiences may assume that a revenger is so controlled by passion for revenge that he risks his own damnation. Not like Jesus.

Jesus is about his heavenly father’s business. Hamlet is (at this point in the play) about the business of the ghost of his father, the dead king, not yet that of a heavenly Providence.

OTHERS:
In making the allusion, was Hamlet offering only of himself as an ironic Christ figure, or might he have been suggesting ironies about his mother and uncle?

MOTHERS
2. Although the Virgin Mary and Gertrude are both amazed or astonished to have witnessed their son’s actions, Mary is considered sinless by Christian doctrine, while Gertrude is a sinner who had an affair with her brother-in-law, and who seems to have unknowingly married her husband’s murderer. The Virgin Mary doesn’t fit that description. This is ironic.

STEP-FATHERS
3. Although Jesus, according to Christian doctrine, has of step-father in Joseph the carpenter, Joseph did not poison and kill his brother and king, or take his throne, as Claudius did old King Hamlet. Nor did the ghost of a poisoned uncle visit Jesus to command him to avenge his death. More irony.

INNOCENCE v. EXPERIENCE?
Jesus in the temple is an innocent young 12-year-old.
Hamlet is a suspicious young prince, pretending to be insane (and perhaps somewhat actually so), trying to keep secret what he knows about his father’s murder while catching his uncle’s conscience.
This is a strong contrast.

THE ACTION THAT FOLLOWS
4. In the story from Luke, Jesus is separated from his family, then reunited with them after they find him in the temple. He goes home with them.

Hamlet’s Mousetrap offends and drives his mother and uncle/stepfather away. More irony.

5. Not long after he makes the allusion, Hamlet finds Claudius at prayer and considers killing him, but stops himself: Doing so while he is at prayer might send Claudius to heaven. Hamlet says he would rather kill him when Claudius is sinning, so he can send him to hell.
(Jesus' mission was to save souls, not damn them.)

Soon Hamlet goes to his mother’s closet to confront her about her marriage to his father’s murderer, but Polonius is hiding, eavesdropping. Hamlet mistakes him for Claudius, and kills Polonius by mistake.

Jesus grows to be a man who criticizes religious authorities and drives the moneychangers from the temple, yes. But that is a far cry from what Hamlet does, playing God to damn Claudius, and killing by mistake.

For these reasons and more, the allusion is deeply ironic.

(More next week: Who are the targets of these ironies, and who aims it?)

~~~~~~~~~~
NOTES:
[1] See part 3 in this series: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/02/hamlet-as-boy-jesus-among-temple-elders_14.html

[2] Hamlet, 3.2.325-356: All references to Hamlet are to the Folger Shakespeare Library online version: https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/hamlet/entire-play/

[3] Luke 2:41-52. See Bible Gateway for a modern spelling version of the Geneva translation familiar to Shakespeare: 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

[4] Part 1 in this series: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/01/hamlet-as-boy-jesus-among-synagogue.html

Also see Part 2 in this series: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/02/hamlet-as-boy-jesus-among-temple-elders.html

Part 3 in this series: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/02/hamlet-as-boy-jesus-among-temple-elders_14.html

IMAGES: This painting is from about 100 years before Shakespeare's Hamlet. The image collage consiste of a central (mostly full) image, with four close-up details, two on the right, two on the left.
Maestro Bartolomé (1450–1493), “Christ Among the Doctors.”
Originally part of the Ciudad Rodrigo Catedral de Santa María altarpiece. Now at University of Arizona Museum of Art - Tucson, AZ, USA. Pulbic domain via
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christ_Among_the_Doctors_by_Maestro_Bartolom%C3%A9,_1480-1488,_oil_on_panel_-_University_of_Arizona_Museum_of_Art_-_University_of_Arizona_-_Tucson,_AZ_-_DSC08323.jpg

IMAGE DETAIL, UPPER RIGHT:
Joseph (center) and Mary (right) arrive to find Jesus. He looks at them as if to ask, “Why did you search for me with heavy hearts? Didn’t you know I had to be about my father’s business?”

IMAGE DETAIL, LOWER RIGHT: Man in the upper right of the detail, in orange head-wear looks as if he is amazed at the boy Jesus. Below him, man in dark green hat consults his book. Man wearing red in upper left of this detail looks angry, as if to argue with the two men above and across from him, one of whom tears a book. Note that the scripture tale in Luke does not mention anger or arguments among the temple elders.

IMAGE DETAIL, LOWER LEFT: Man in green, lower left in this detail. holds a book but looks up with wonder at the boy Jesus. Above him and to the right in this detail, a man tears a book and also looks up at the boy in wonder. Notice that the scripture tale in Luke 2 mentions nothing about one of the temple elders tearing a book.

IMAGE DETAIL, UPPER LEFT: Man in green and gold head-wear consults his book. Note that in the time of Jesus, temple elders consulted scriptures read from scrolls, not books. They all most probably dressed quite differently than these people portrayed here, which align with the appearance of people in the artist’s own time.

Search This Blog

Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

(Part 4 ) Dissonance and Irony in Hamlet's 3.2 Allusion to Luke 2

Comments

Post a Comment