Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

Stephen Greenblatt is the author of a number of books, one of them 𝘏𝘢𝘮𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘗𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 (2001), an important book in Hamlet studies and also in Shakespeare and Religion. He is also one of the scholars most associated with New Historicism. Greenblatt's approach in this book, exploring many manifestations of the long history of the idea of purgatory in literature and art, influenced my own approach in many ways: - When I go digging for historical associations that could have made very meaningful the choice of sentinel names (Francisco and Bernardo), this is like Greenblatt's approach. - When I dig for famous examples of "poison cup" known in Elizabethan times, like King Aegeus knocking from his son's hand the cup poisoned by Medea, this follows a well-worn path that Greenblatt trod before me. - When I explore various pre-1600 paintings of the boy Jesus, lost in Jerusalem, found astonishing the elders in the temple - to shed light on a Hamlet allusion...

We have raspberries in our backyard: red, black, and purple,[1] including four varieties of reds. They grow on canes: First year canes don't bear fruit; patience is required. Once fruited, old canes can be cut out to make room for next year's harvest. Berries start green, turn white-yellow, then pink, then slowly become their final color. Pick them too early, and they are bitter, hard; too late, fermented (yum!) or bug-infested (yuck!). Our purples are largest; blacks, smallest. Some varieties (reds, purples) send out roots that sprout new canes. They are surprisingly good at seeking fertile soil. More often than not, black raspberries spread when long first-year canes reach out like arching fishing poles, whose ends bend down to the ground where the tips send out tendrils to root. If you want to keep them from taking over a garden or a part of the yard, it's important to direct where the canes touch the ground so that the new plants stay in their rows. (These canes are lik...

Series on Religious (and a few other) Biases in Shakespeare Scholarship: In 2022, I did a series exploring the biases of various Shakespeare and Hamlet scholars, many of them Protestant or Catholic. The first post in the series includes a more thorough introduction: 1. Biases & Assumptions Influence What We Notice, Seek, or Neglect - 11 January, 2022 https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/01/biases-assumptions-influence-what-we.html 2. Religious Bias in Shakespeare/Hamlet Scholarship - 18 January, 2022 https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/01/part-2-factors-contributing-to.html 3. Victors Wrote the Histories of Shakespeare and Francis of Assisi - 25 January, 2022 https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/01/victors-wrote-history-of-shakespeare.html 4. Biblical Seeds of Secular Shakespeare Bias - 1 February, 2022 https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/02/biblical-seeds-of-secular-shakespeare.html 5. Catholic Bias in Simon Augustus Blackmore - 8 February,...

THANK YOU for following my series on Ophelia! This is the 15th (and longest!) series I have done on my blog; For a list of the other 14 series, see footnote [1]. In the fourth part of her poem, “Sometimes,” Mary Oliver offers this (often-quoted) stanza: Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it. I don’t start or end my series thinking that I’m an expert, but rather, a seeker with a hunger to fill gaps in my understanding. It’s good to chip away at a topic a little at a time, like the saying: a long journey is made up of many small steps. I try to pay attention, and am frequently astonished. I’m grateful that a few others follow along as I share questions and reflections. There are always new questions, new perspectives, new angles for considering even very old ideas. Ophelia is a mystery to me. For some reason (explored in some posts of this series), Gertrude presents Ophelia’s drowning as something other than suicide. Some are struck with disbelief to...

In the month of July, the blog received 3,253 views from 19 countries (with other views from 43 views unknown countries). The total views for all time came to 96,869. Thank you so much for your ongoing interest and support! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~...

In late 2020, I did a series on Isaac Asimov's treatment of Hamlet in his two-volume work on Shakespeare, pondering various insights gleaned from his work, after which I revisited one of the topics two years later: Part 1: Wicked Uncles: Notes on Asimov on Hamlet, Part 1 - September 22, 2020: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2020/09/notes-on-asimov-on-hamlet-part-1-wicked.html Part 2: Niobe & the Nemean Lion: Notes on Asimov on Hamlet, Part 2 - September 29, 2020: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2020/09/asimov-hamlet-niobe-nemean-lion.html Part 3: Power-Broker Polonius, Ungenerous Jephthah https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2020/10/powerbroker-polonius-ungenerous-jephthah.html Part 4: Suicide, Survival, Adaptivity, & Resistance: Notes on Asimov on Hamlet - October 13, 2020 https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2020/10/on-suicide-survival-adaptivity.html Part 5: Chameleon Hamlet & 1 Cor 9: Notes on Asimov on Hamlet - October 20, 2020 htt...

At some point in my work on Hamlet, I realized that the first part of the graveyard scene resembles the gospel tale of the appearance of Jesus as a stranger to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus: In the graveyard scene, instead of two disciples, it's two Danes, and instead of being on the road to Emmaus, they're on the road to Elsinore. Instead of recognizing a supernatural being in the breaking of bread (one of the actions at the Last Supper), they recognize the skull of Yorick (fool of "infinite jest" -a sort of god of fools) in the clown/gravedigger's tale of poured wine (a flagon of Rhenish wine Yorick poured on the gravedigger's head). Something similar occurs in the courtroom scene of The Merchant of Venice, where Portia is the disguised stranger later to be recognized, not in the breaking of bread, but in the breaking of ring-vows, when rings that two men had promised never to part with until death are given away. The Jonah echo in Hamlet's sea...

From August 4-23, 2022, I did a series exploring how Shakespeare seems to have had The Odyssey in mind when he named Ophelia's brother Laertes (the father of Odysseus also had that name): In the same way that the family of Odysseus tries to defend his wife Penelope against suitors while he is away at war, Polonius and Laertes try to defend Ophelia against suitors. This was prompted in part by Asimov's book on Shakespeare, in the section on Hamlet , where he briefly mentions this name, Laertes, which stand out like a sore thumb, and which does not sound very Danish. Below is the INDEX to these posts: 1. Laertes in Hamlet & the Odyssey - Part 1: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/08/laertes-in-hamlet-odyssey-part-1.html 2. Laertes in Hamlet & the Odyssey - Part 2: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/08/laertes-in-hamlet-odyssey-part-2.html 3. Seeking Penelope in Ophelia & Hamlet: Laertes & The Odyssey - Part 3: https://pauladrianfried...

It's good sometimes to pay special attention to things that we don't understand. This was the case for me with a statement that Hamlet makes to his mother Gertrude in her closet: "When you are desirous to be blest, I'll blessing beg of you." (3.4.192-3) It seems counter-intuitive, that Hamlet would tell his mother that when she is in need of blessing, he would beg one of her. But it occurred to me that a similar dynamic happens in the Bible, as when the disciples notice that the crowd to which Jesus is preaching is becoming hungry, and instead of creating a miracle, he first asks what food they do have: a few fish and loaves. Something similar and perhaps even more relevant happens in 1 and 2 Kings, in tales about Elijah (and later, his successor prophet, Elisha) and a widow or widows. In 1 Kings, a widow is hungry or in need, and 2 Kings, her late husband left the family in debt, so the sons may be arrested and taken into debt slavery, to work until the...

In 2018, I posted about how the ghost of Jonah haunts the play, Hamlet. I came to this realization a few years earlier while teaching a college literature course: I was talking to the class about Hamlet's westward sea-voyage, and a student asked me to put up on the screen a map showing the relationship between Denmark and England, Hamlet's destination. Then it occurred to me: Hamlet goes west on a ship, like Jonah (another prophetic soul), and changes mode of transportation mid-sea (like Jonah, who is swallowed by a fish, while Hamlet is swallowed by a pirate ship). Below are the main posts related to Jonah and Hamlet, in chronological order, although they leap a bit through time: INDEX OF MAIN POSTS ON JONAH AND HAMLET: 1. THE GHOST OF JONAH HAUNTS SHAKESPEARE’S HAMLET - 23 April, 2018 https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-ghost-of-jonah-haunts-hamlet.html 2. Hamlet's Sea-voyage, Christ in the Tomb, and "the Sign of Jonah" - 16 April, 2022 h...

My favorite things about Ophelia? 1. By obeying her father too much, she demonstrates the failure of over-valued Elizabethan parental [and political] authority, but also displays heroic patience and self-control. 2. She calls out the potential hypocrisy of her brother. 3. She understands (although her father and brother do not) that “almost all the holy vows of heaven” from Hamlet are most probably a marriage betrothal, and that she could be Denmark’s next queen. 4. She reveals her love for Hamlet even while giving back his love poems, obeying her father. 5. She talks back to Hamlet in the nunnery scene and at “The Mousetrap” play, bold to act this way with the prince. 6. She uses coded meanings of flowers to criticize her king and queen. 7. She sings a bawdy song, perhaps mourning her unspent virginity like Jephthah’s daughter, or mourning the loss of Hamlet as lover, expressing disappointment at being denied access to Hamlet by her father, and then by Hamlet as well.    8. S...