INDEX: Emmaus in Hamlet's Graveyard (and a Venice Courtroom)

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 voyage overlaps here a bit, as Hamlet has just returned (Jonah-like) from sea, but we don't learn the details of his having been swallowed by a pirate ship (instead of a fish) until the start of the next scene (5.2), so the retelling of the sea journey is delayed until after the graveyard scene, making Jonah and Emmaus overlap in this retelling.
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INDEX TO EMMAUS-RELATED POSTS IN THIS SERIES:

INTRODUCTION: “Emmaus in Hamlet,” 21 May, 2018:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2018/05/emmaus-in-hamlet-in-emmaus-story-1.html

"Emmaus in Merchant of Venice," 7 May, 2018:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/01/emmaus-in-merchant-of-venice-in.html

1. Blasphemy in Hamlet 5.1 Emmaus figures: Part 1
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/05/blasphemy-and-heresy-in-hamlets-emmaus.html

2. Heresy in Hamlet 5.1 Emmaus figures: Part 2
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/05/heresy-in-hamlet-51-emmaus-figures-part.html

3. From Fear & Power to Fools & Affection (Emmaus in Hamlet 5.1, Part 3)
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/05/from-fear-power-to-fools-affection.html

4. Why Rhenish, not Bread? Emmaus in Hamlet 5.1, Part 4
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/05/why-rhenish-not-bread-emmaus-in-hamlet.html

5. Hamlet, Emmaus, Eucharistic Controversy, and Semiotics: Part 5
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/05/hamlet-emmaus-eucharistic-controversy.html

6. Emmaus Key Change in Hamlet & Merchant of Venice (Emmaus in Hamlet, part 6)
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/05/emmaus-key-change-in-hamlet-merchant-of.html

7. Hamlet's Emmaus in Jonah's Belly: Allusions inside of allusions - April 12, 2023
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/04/hamlets-emmaus-in-jonahs-belly.html

INDEX TO EMMAUS-RELATED POSTS IN THIS SERIES:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/08/index-emmaus-in-hamlets-graveyard-and.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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https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/12/top-20-hamlet-bible-posts.html

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