Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

When audiences and readers in our time encounter Hamlet, they may wonder: What is the fuss about a royal affair, and a queen marrying the brother of her dead husband? Royals had affairs often, and it’s now legal in many places to marry the sibling of a deceased spouse. I have blogged in the past about Claudius, Gertrude, and the adulteries and alleged incest of Henry VIII [1], but it is also important to consider Gertrude and Claudius in light of the accusations of adultery and incest against Anne Boleyn. Many know that Henry’s second wife, Anne Bolelyn, was accused of adultery, incest, and treason, and beheaded for it. Fewer are aware that five men were accused of various things in association with Anne’s scandal (adultery, incest, treason, plotting assassination), and were also executed. These included George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford (the Queen’s brother); Henry Norris, Mark Smeaton (musician at court), William Brereton, and Francis Weston (thought to be his image at left). So not o...

It is said that in the patriarchy of Shakespeare’s world, characters like Hamlet sort women into two categories: Virgin or whore. Ophelia and Gertrude can’t live up to an iconic model like the Virgin Mary. [1] In this way, we may view the Virgin Mary in a class by herself, sinless “Mother of God” who conceived Jesus by the Holy Spirit, and not by any man, and therefore to view Ophelia and Gertrude as far lesser mortals. [2] I will focus this post on Ophelia. I have come to believe, however, that it’s better to consider some of the many things Ophelia has in common with the Virgin Mary story rather than how Mary is in a class by herself. The story claims that Joseph, after a dream, did the honorable thing and married her (Matt 1:18-25). So the story is not merely about virginity, but also about treating a pregnant woman with compassion. If Hamlet had learned that he had made Ophelia pregnant, would he have acted in love to marry her? From his graveside declaration of his love (5.1.285...

IS IT FAIR, for educators to hijack Mother’s Day as an occasion to examine the rich diversity of mother figures in Shakespeare, and also at times, their absence? I would say yes. Educators often treat such occasions as “teachable moments” when they invite students to study some text or artifact so as to better come to understand history and their culture. In Act 4, scene 4, Hamlet says, How all occasions do inform against me [...]. Sure He that made us with such large discourse, Looking before and after, gave us not That capability and godlike reason To fust in us unused. (4.4.34-41) [1] Such teachable moments should not be wasted, unused. Educators have at their disposal many resources which can work a kind of alchemy to turn occasions like Mother’s Day into gold. - Biology teachers can glimpse in wonder at the workings of the human body that allow conception and breast-feeding; - teachers in the human sciences can explore Freud’s ideas about the centrality of relationships to mothers...

IF I WON THE LOTTERY, like Babette in the film, “Babette’s Feast,” [1] I would love to travel the world, see places I’ve never been, places with “strange sounding names” [2] (strange to me, anyway…). And if I could, it would be wonderful to travel to the many places where all my LinkedIn friends and connections live, and visit over lunch or coffee, and hear the sounds of your voices! But short of that, for now, if you’ve wondered what my voice sounds like when I’m not doing an imitation of the cartoon character “Goofy” [3], you can hear my voice in the Mother’s Day panel discussion organized by Rodney Hakim and New York Shakespeare, exploring mothers in Shakespeare with Pauline Kiernan and Royston Coppenger: The video is now available in two parts at YouTube: Part 1: https://youtu.be/THvwuGYKQcA Part 2: https://youtu.be/7-g43NcarOM For those interested in the topic of mothers in Shakespeare, there are many things that have been written for popular as well as scholarly audiences. Here a...

REGARDING MOTHERS IN SHAKESPEARE, video of our discussion with Rodney Hakim, host of “Deep Dives” at New York Shakespeare, is now available in two parts at YouTube: Part 1: https://youtu.be/THvwuGYKQcA?si=fgn2EceaGkiQN8AJ Part 2: https://youtu.be/7-g43NcarOM?si=1WaoNEnAUgGtknTJ There are things I wish our discussion might have had more time for.... These include: 1. Among reasons for mothers often being absent in Shakespeare plays, one may have been that both monarchs Shakespeare lived under had their mothers executed. I might have extended this idea: If one is writing plays that one may perform before the monarch, one might downplay or omit the presence of mothers in deference to them. 2. Some assume that Lady Macbeth was never a mother, but in fact she refers to having nursed a babe, and often uses milk and nursing figuratively. Lady Macbeth in 1.7: “I have given suck, and know How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me.” 3. In Hamlet, there are many referen...

Sometimes people debate Shakespeare’s religious allegiances as if cheering for a favorite football team. It can seem as if some secret truth about his religious beliefs is more important to them than the richness of the plays and poems. Instead of asking which team he was on, we might wonder if, at heart, he was perhaps a kind of "free agent," free to admire certain things in a variety of traditions, while passing as an obedient Protestant? It's true that Shakespeare was much more sympathetic in his portrayal of Catholic elements in his plays than many of his contemporaries, but this alone does not prove he was secretly Catholic. England had flip-flopped from Catholic to Protestant under Henry VIII and his son, then back to Catholic under Mary I, then to Protestant again under Elizabeth. Maybe Shakespeare embraced certain values in Christianity, but wanted to hedge his bets, since Catholics (and others) in England were being persecuted for being too outspoken on religion....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ INDEX OF POSTS IN THIS SERIES: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/01/index-hamlet-in-32-as-boy-jesus-lost.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In this recent series,[1] I’ve explored one scripture allusion in a Shakespeare play (Hamlet in 3.2 alluding to the boy Jesus among temple elders from Luke 2). Readers of literature can explore allusions on their own, or instructors can do so with their students. There are many ways to do this, many possible starting points. Below is an outline of the method I used in this series. In many ways I only scratched the surface. Some tasks listed below might benefit from working on as a whole group. Then a class might divide tasks # 3 - # 7 among groups, and then later meet to discuss results, before # 8. 1. IDENTIFY what seems to be a scripture allusion. - People long familiar with a religion’s sacred texts may have an advantage, but religious belief is not required to identify allusions. Fa...

Thanks to readers, 1-30 April, 2023 ~~~~~~~ Thank you to readers of this blog for this past month, which the blog's analytics say came to 551 views from the following countries: Thank you for your interest. I am grateful and humbled. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks for reading! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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...