Part 17: Ophelia's "Owl" and "False Steward" Allusions: Why in that order?

In her alleged madness, Ophelia says things that seem merely mad ramblings. But to original audiences, these may have been allusions to well-known tales, and there may be a reason for their ordering.

First:

OPHELIA: They say the owl was a
baker’s daughter. Lord, we know what we are but
know not what we may be. God be at your table. (4.5.47-49) [1]

Second:

OPHELIA:  You must sing “A-down a-down”—and you
“Call him a-down-a.”—O, how the wheel becomes
it! It is the false steward that stole his master’s
Daughter. (4.5.194-197)

Consider:

“THE OWL WAS A BAKER’S DAUGHTER” is a reference to a tale in which a baker’s daughter is turned into an owl after being repeatedly ungenerous with a beggar at the door - who was Jesus in disguise. This is a folktale retelling of the gospel tale of the Rich Man (Dives) and the beggar Lazarus.[2]

Ophelia summarizes: “Lord, we know what we are but / know not what we may be.”
Ophelia may feel punished, like the baker’s daughter, and as people in Denmark’s court may soon be.

Then Ophelia adds, “God be at your table”: Why this, here?
Perhaps because the Emmaus tale of two disciples welcoming a stranger (and recognizing him at table in breaking of bread) was the happy ending version of the Rich Man and Lazarus: Instead of rejecting or neglecting the stranger, they welcome him, and he reveals himself at their table.[3]

Why is it important that the owl tale comes first?
Ophelia may see herself in the ungenerous daughter: She rejected Hamlet, obeying her father, later helping the king and her father spy on Hamlet.
- In the gospels, Jesus says not to take the mote or speck of dust from your neighbor’s eye before you take the plank from your own (Matt 7:3-5; Luke 6:41-42).[4]
- So she may be considering repenting of her own sins before considering faults of others. 

THE FALSE STEWARD STOLE HIS MASTER’S DAUGHTER
“You must sing ‘A-down’”:
The play is about the death and downfall of two kings, a queen, a prince, and others.
The “wheel” of fate turns kings into beggars, beggars into kings.

But “the false steward who stole his master’s daughter” is a reference to a tale or play about a false steward who abducts his master’s daughter while the master is away at war [5]. The steward raises the daughter as his own, but years later, when she falls in love, he tells her she cannot marry above her station, concealing from her the facts of her true parentage.

Ophelia may recognize that her father and brother were false stewards for keeping her from Hamlet, who had made vows to her.

If the allusions had been switched, Ophelia would not be following the gospel: She humbly considers her own faults before considering those of her father and brother. By this ordering of allusions, perhaps Shakespeare wanted audiences to consider that she may be “saved.” 


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NOTES:
[1] All quotes are from the Folger Shakespeare Library online version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet: https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/hamlet/read/

[2] For more on this, see previous post on “the owl was a baker’s daughter”:

Owl & Beggar Lazarus at Baker's Door in Hamlet 4.5 (part 11)
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-begggar-lazarus-at-bakers-door-in.html

As the owl folktale was a retelling of the rich man and the beggar Lazarus, see also:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-ghost-of-lazarus-haunts-hamlet.html
The Lazarus-Rich Man gospel was read every First Sunday After Trinity Sunday, and also read every 5 March, 4 July, and every 30 October as the second lesson for Morning prayer.
It was also mentioned in a number of official sermons by Thomas Cranmer and John Jewell.

[3] For more on echoes of Emmaus in the Hamlet graveyard scene, see
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2018/05/emmaus-in-hamlet-in-emmaus-story-1.html
The Emmaus gospel tale from Luke 24:13-35 was read each year on Monday in Easter Week.

For a similar tale from Greek mythology:
Shakespeare is thought to have been familiar with the Arthur Golding translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses, in which there is a tale of Zeus and Hermes (gods) in disguise, who are guests at the home of Baucis and Philemon: God be at your table. WIkipedia notes that the tale is “[r]eferenced by Shakespeare in Much Ado About Nothing when Don Pedro courts Hero for Claudio (2.1.95), and also in As You Like It by Jaques (3.3.7-8).

[4] Horatio refers to this "mote" in 1.1, identified as a biblical allusion: "A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye."
See the relevant parts of the following two gospels:
Matt 7:3-5, read every 9 January, 9 May, and 6 September  as the second lesson at Morning prayer;
and Luke 6:41-42, read every Fourth Sunday after Trinity, and every 24 February, 22 June, and 20 October as the second reading at Morning Prayer.
- This is also echoed in The Lord’s Prayer, spoken every Sunday and every day at morning and evening prayer in English churches: “...forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us.” First look inward to see one’s own sins, and only then, consider sins of others.

[5] For more on “the false steward that stole his master’s daughter,” see
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-false-steward-that-stole-his.html

This is a tale about a one kind of (true) parentage by way of the “master” transcending apparent earthly parentage claims by the “false steward.” Similar tales include  
- the birth of Jesus, with a true “heavenly” father;
- Francis of Assisi, with an abusive earthly father but also a father in heaven;
- countless other women and men who turned their backs on their earthly families in favor of what they believed was a truer, heavenly parentage, and joined monasteries and convents.  


IMAGES:
Left: Vanitas Still Life with Books, a Violin and an Owl in a Niche, circa 1645-1650, by Jacob van Campen  (1596–1657), Museum Flehite. Public domain via
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jacob_van_Campen_005.jpg   

Center: The Owl, by 1863. Valentine Cameron Prinsep (1838–1904), preraphaelitepaintings.blogspot.com. Public domain via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Il_Barbagianni_The_Owl_by_Valentine_Cameron_Prinsep.jpg

Right: The Little Owl, 1506, Albrecht Dürer  (1471–1528). Public domain via
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer_-_The_Little_Owl_-_WGA7367.jpg

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INDEX OF OPHELIA POSTS:
My 2023 series on Ophelia, and earlier Ophelia posts:

https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/10/index-of-ophelia-posts-2023-series-and.html
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YOU CAN SUPPORT ME on a one-time "tip" basis on Ko-Fi:
https://ko-fi.com/pauladrianfried

IF YOU WOULD PREFER to support me on a REGULAR basis,
you may do so on Ko-Fi, or here on Patreon:
https://patreon.com/PaulAdrianFried
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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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