(Part 8) Hamlet in 3.2 as the boy Jesus: Why has this been missed?

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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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In previous parts of this series,[1] I have explored Hamlet’s allusion in 3.2 to himself and his mother Gertrude [2] as like the boy Jesus, found in the temple by an astonished mother Mary among the elders.[3] 

This allusion was missed by all major writers of reference books on Shakespeare and the Bible through at least the late 20th century [4].

Why have these scholars in this specialty field missed this allusion?
Possibilities:

1. THE BIAS OF SCHOLARS:
Perhaps many critics have preferred to imagine Hamlet as either not religious, or as a virtuous hero, rather than as one who would gloat after The Mousetrap and compare himself, perhaps blasphemously, to the boy Jesus? [5]

And perhaps some scholars, especially in the last half century, simply resisted viewing Hamlet as a Christ figure at all,[6] so they even resisted viewing him as an ironic and self-proclaimed one?

2. TOO MUCH IRONY:
While there are many similarities between Hamlet’s situation and that of Jesus,[7] the dissimilarities may be even stronger.[8] These may discourage readers and viewers of the play from noticing the allusion at all. Jesus in the temple is an innocent young 12-year-old, while 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. Gertrude is no Virgin Mary, and Claudius, no Joseph the carpenter.

3. TOO MANY DISTRACTING ELEMENTS before, during and after this allusion:
Before:
The Mousetrap comes shortly before the allusion, near the start of it, Hamlet makes sexual remarks to Ophelia [9] and offers barbs to his mother. When Claudius rises and leaves early, Hamlet thinks his plan has worked. This is a high point in the play.

During:
When Hamlet is soon to make this allusion to the boy Jesus, he is excited, proud of himself, even gloating. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern bring messages about his uncle’s distemper, and his mother’s astonishment.

But these exchanges with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are like a comedy routine (“Who’s on first?”), as mentioned in Part 7 of this series. Hamlet keeps intentionally misreading his former friends, taking them too literally, the wrong way. This is funny but tense, and makes it easy to miss Hamlet’s allusion.[10]

When Rosencrantz uses the words “amazement and admiration,” Hamlet provides the rest:

HAMLET: O wonderful son that can so ’stonish a mother! [11]

If we blink, we miss it – even if we are familiar with the tale of the boy Jesus from Luke 2.  

After:
Right after the allusion, Hamlet gives Guildenstern a pipe and asks him to play it. Hamlet asks, “do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe?” He warns them against plucking the heart of his mystery. [12] This is all very intense, much more so than the allusion.

All of this makes the allusion easy to miss.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NOTES:
[1] 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


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


[3] Luke 2:46-52. See part 1 in this series.
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/01/hamlet-as-boy-jesus-among-synagogue.html


[4] These Bible-and-Shakespeare book authors include
Charles Wordsworth (1865),
William Burgess (1903),
Thomas Carter (1905),
Richmond Noble (1935),
Peter Milward (1987), and
Naseeb Shaheen (1999).

Some of these (especially Noble and Shaheen) may have considered it, but perhaps defined biblical allusions too narrowly.

(But just because these 6 missed it, that doesn’t mean all scholars and critics have missed it: There may be some references to the allusion by critics or scholars that were missed by these six, and by me.)


[5] Dr. Johnson and Coleridge, among others, expressed disgust that Hamlet would delay killing his uncle at prayer, simply to play God so as to damn him by waiting until a later moment when Claudius was sinning.
See “Hamlet and the Scanning of Revenge” by Paul Gottschalk,
Shakespeare Quarterly , Spring, 1973, Vol. 24, No. 2 (Spring, 1973), pp. 155-170
URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2868854

[6] Roland M. Frye was among those who resisted critics who found too many Christ-figures, perhaps because of narrow Protestant biases. See previous blog post from last year: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/02/roland-fryes-protestant-bias.html

[7] See parts 1 and 3 of this series (index in footnote 1, above).


[8] See parts 4 and 5 of this series (index in footnote 1, above).

[9] Ophelia, “country matters,” 3.2.119-131

[10] See Part 7 of this series (index in footnote 1, above).
Also see, Who’s on first? Abbott and Costello, Youtube. https://youtu.be/sYOUFGfK4bU. 1945.

[11] After Rosencrants uses the words “amazement and admiration,” Hamlet provides the rest of the allusion:
HAMLET: O wonderful son that can so ’stonish a mother! (3.2.356)

[12] Hamlet 3.2.380-402


IMAGES:
Left: Stained glass window: Jesus teaching the elders in the Temple,
from St. Mary church in Freyburg (Unstrut), Germany. Photo by GFreihalter, public domain via
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Freyburg_(Unstrut)_Stadtkirche_St._Marien_Schriftgelehrte_275.jpg

Right: Jesus teaching the elders in the Temple.
Latin inscription on the arch: “invenerunt illum in templo sedentem in medio doctorum”
(“They found him sitting in the temple in the midst of the teachers.”)
From Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary in Lourdes, France.
Signature en bas à droite : Maxime Grellet
Vassil. Public domain, via
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ND_Rosaire_mosa%C3%AFque_02.jpg

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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.

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