Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ INDEX OF POSTS IN THIS SERIES: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/01/index-hamlet-in-32-as-boy-jesus-lost.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This series has considered Hamlet’s allusion to Luke 2:46-52, the tale of the boy Jesus amazing temple elders and his parents.[1] Last week we considered a similar thematic echo in Macbeth , when the son of Lady Macduff amazes and humors his mother with wit and grace while also catching her conscience, like a court fool. But Hamlet and Macbeth are not the only Shakespeare plays that echo or allude to the Luke 2 story: King Lear contains an allusion to this gospel story, spoken by Lear’s exiled daughter, Cordelia.[2] We might recall how in Luke 2, Jesus tells his parents that he went to the temple because he had to be about his (heavenly) “father’s business.” Hamlet also believes he must be about his father’s business, but he is confused, at first striving reluctantly to be about the ghost’...

This year is the 400th anniversary of the printing of Shakespeare's First Folio, which contains 36 plays that it labels as 15 comedies, 10 histories, and 12 tragedies. Some of these have later been called problem plays or romances. Of the 36 plays, 18 may have been lost forever if not for the printing of the First Folio. - There are a few others that we know Shakespeare had a hand in that are not included in the First Folio: Two Noble Kinsmen, Pericles, and Edward III. - There are also lost Shakespeare plays: Love's Labour's Won, and Cardenio. - And some Folio plays are known to have been collaborations. The exact date of Shakespeare's birth is not known, although his baptism was recorded as taking place on April 26, 1564, and his death on April 23, 1616. To keep things neat and tidy, his birth and death are observed on the same date, April 23, and this year, the anniversary of the First Folio has attracted special celebrations and publications. Seven years after Sh...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ INDEX OF POSTS IN THIS SERIES: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/01/index-hamlet-in-32-as-boy-jesus-lost.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When considering an allusion by an author, it’s often informative to check and see if that author has other works that make a similar allusion. With Hamlet’s allusion to the boy Jesus amazing his mother and the temple elders in 3.2, besides checking things such as homilies of the time (as I did in Part 9 of this series) [1], we might wonder: Did Shakespeare allude to this Bible tale in other plays? Naseeb Shaheen believes Shakespeare’s Cymbeline has a brief reference to this same gospel tale (1.1.47-52), and King Lear (more explicitly) in 4.4.26-32. Less explicitly - yet perhaps quite significantly - in Macbeth, the dynamics between Lady Macduff and her son have a strong thematic connection to the tale of the boy Jesus amazing and [a-]stonishing his parents (and especially his mother, as...

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE that one allusion or plot echo might be encompassed inside of another? A playwright can begin one thread of a story with an allusion, have the action cut away to a sub-plot with a different allusion, and pick up later on the original story thread. This happens in Hamlet, with plot echoes of Jonah and Emmaus. JONAH [1]: Hamlet’s sea-voyage contains important similarities to the sea-voyage of Jonah.[2] Bits of this allusion or the plot echo begin early in the play, with Hamlet exclaiming to the ghost, “O my prophetic soul!” [3] Later there are repeated references to his upcoming sea-voyage to England. [4] On his sea-voyage, we don’t hear of his having been in the belly of the pirate ship until Horatio reads a letter in which Hamlet mentions pirates [5]. To Claudius, Hamlet writes how he was “set naked on your kingdom.” [6] EMMAUS: Before we hear details that complete the Jonah echo in 5.2, Hamlet and Horatio are two Danes on the road to Elisinore, stopping in a graveya...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ INDEX OF POSTS IN THIS SERIES: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/01/index-hamlet-in-32-as-boy-jesus-lost.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Most considerations of a biblical allusion in Shakespeare do well to consider whether, and how, official homilies of the time treated the biblical text. This applies to this series,[1] and Hamlet’s allusion [2] to Luke and the boy Jesus, amazing temple elders and his parents. People in Shakespeare’s England were required by law to attend church. They would hear Luke 2:46-52 every January on the Sunday after Epiphany.[3] Only one official homily [4], attributed to Bishop John Jewell, mentions these verses from Luke. The homily is called, “OF THE RIGHT USE OF THE CHURCH OR TEMPLE OF GOD, AND OF THE REVERENCE DUE UNTO THE SAME.”[5] EXCERPT 1: “In the second [chapter] of Luke it is written, how that the mother of Christ, and Joseph, when they had long sought Christ, whom they had lost, and could ...