Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

Today, “poison cup” can be a way to describe having been given a task that may be one’s undoing [1]. But what was the history of “poison cup” in Shakespeare’s time? These are words found in Shakespeare's Macbeth (1.7), but a plot idea used earlier in his Hamlet. "Poisoned cup" is related to "Trojan horse": looks like a gift, but will bring doom. A poisoned cup brought death for Socrates (state-ordered suicide). Scottish reformer John Knox (1514-1572) said that one (Catholic) Mass is worse than a cup of poison in Protestant-Catholic transubstantiation debates, the phrase an example of anti-Catholic polemics. In fact, it's even older: In a legend told by St. Isidore (c. 560 – 636), St. John (of Patmos) the Apostle had an encounter with a poisoned cup of wine, and (miraculously?) survived, perhaps warned of poison by a serpent. In Greek mythology and Hebrew scripture: The rod of Asclepius, associated with healing, features a snake, and Asclepius' daughter H...

I have a long list of topics to cover related to Shakespeare and Hamlet in coming months, including another book review, a few reviews of Minnesota Shakespeare productions, and new series or two... But for now, it's nice to stumble upon a Hamlet joke or two every now and then! Three Hamlet Jokes on X (formerly Twitter) with references to lines or key words in the play: Benedict Nelson: Woman on radio 4 was just talking about her dog, ‘Hamlet’ and I said “presumably a Great Dane”, [1] and got nothing from my family. Not even a smirk. jack furness (reply): they've obviously lost all their mirth [2] Richard Gillin (reply): When I say that sort of thing they just tell me I’m a pain in the arras.[3] NOTES: [1] See Hamlet in graveyard (5.1), "It is I, Hamlet the Dane!" [2] See Hamlet in 2.2, "I have of late- but wherefore I know not- lost all my mirth..." [3] See 3.4, Polonius hides behind the arras, cries out; Hamlet says, "A rat!" and stabs the uns...

I own both a paperback edition and a kindle edition of Michael Brett's book of poems, Tomorrow It Will All Run Backwards - Modern War Poetry . It is not often that I purchase a second copy of a book I already own to put on my kindle, but I liked this collection of poems so much, I wanted easy access when I travel. The book's subtitle, "Modern War Poetry," is at least in part deceiving. Throughout the book, Brett weaves a spell that includes not only the horrors of war, but also everyday scenes, and moments that span history and continents. This collection transcends easy categorization, but is also profoundly moving, imaginative, and thought-provoking, filled with tricks of wordplay that seem simple on the surface but release their energy and insights like depth charges. The book is divided into three sections: 1. Easdale Island By Oban, Argyll, Scotland 1974-80 2. The Information Centre of Bosnia-Herzegovina, London 1990-5 3. London 2000-2015 The collection include...

Peter Milward (1925-2017) makes an interesting point about the growth of academic jargon ("gobbledygook") in scholarly writing. Milward is the author of Biblical Influences in Shakespeare's Great Tragedies (1987), which is helpful in some ways that similar books by other authors sometimes are not. The following quote is from Milward's review of a book by Gillian Wood (whose work I've enjoyed), Shakespeare's Unreformed Fictions: ...maybe she is content, or her publisher is content, with a readership of like-minded scholars as being (in Milton’s words) a ‘fit audience, though but few’. All too evidently, she likes to puzzle or muddle the general reader with such phrases as ‘characterological interiority’ (p. 129), ‘disjunctions in the drama’s representational logic’ (p. 170), ‘the ontological confusion inherent in the moment of animation’ (p. 181), and ‘the axiomatic knowledge of the binary distinction’ (p. 201). Admittedly, these phrases make more sense in thei...

How is Shakespeare’s Hamlet produced/received/avoided in Israel? [1] "Being European: 'Hamlet' on the Israeli Stage" (Reut Barzilai 2020) [2] notes: Israeli productions often avoid connections between the play's themes and Israel/Palestine. Consider these themes: LONGSTANDING THREATS OF FOREIGN ATTACK, QUESTIONS OF LAND CLAIM LEGITIMACY: Norway and Denmark fought; Old Fortinbras was killed, Norway defeated; Denmark won land; Young Fortinbras wants lands back that Denmark had taken. Norway can be an analogue for Palestine; Denmark, for Israel. In the end, all Danish royalty kill one other; a dying Hamlet wants Fortinbras to take Denmark's throne. Israel wants to avoid such a fate. REVENGE / RETALIATION: The ghost of Hamlet’s father bids his son to avenge. This causes many deaths. In Israel: Palestinian deaths / injuries by far outnumber those of Israel since the 10/07/23 Hamas attacks and Israeli retaliation [3] (also true of past conflicts [4]): Israeli deaths...

INDEX: Character Arcs: Labors of Gratitude & Regret in Hamlet (Aug. - Dec. 2019) In the second half of 2019, I did a series in which I considered character arcs in Hamlet, using ideas adapted from a Lewis Hyde chapter on “The Labor of Gratitude,” expanding this to include also labors of regret. Posts in this series: Part 1: Gifts & Labors of Gratitude in Hansel & Gretel - (before Hamlet) - 8/12/19 https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/08/lewis-hyde-on-labor-of-gratitude.html Part 2: Hamlet's Descent & Arc Toward Mercy (Labors of Gratitude and Regret) - 8/19/19 https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/08/labors-of-gratitude-and-regret-in-hamlet.html Part 3: Polonius' Labor of Regret - 8/26/19 https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/08/polonius-his-labor-of-regret.html Part 4: Into Dad's Circle of Fear & Flattery: Laertes' Labors of Gratitude & Regret, 1.2 - 9/3/19 https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/09/laertes-dyna...

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Shakespeare's age was marked in part by a Protestant-Catholic feud echoed perhaps in the feud between Capulets and Montagues in Romeo and Juliet . Dennis Taylor (author of Shakespeare and the Elizabethan Reformation: Literary Negotiation of Religious Difference ), has a web page of notes[1] (from which the following is taken) related to Shakespeare and Catholic-Protestant issues; under the year 1984, he has this interesting note on some ideas from Paul Tillich, which may offer a refreshing alternative to the Elizabethan Protestant-Catholic conflict: ~~~~~ Tillich, The Protestant Era: “The decrease in sacramental thinking and feeling in the churches of the Reformation and in the American denominations is appalling. Nature has lost its religious meaning and is excluded [from] participation in the power of salvation … The Protestant protest has rightly destroyed the magical elements in Catholic sacramentalism but has wrongly brought to the verge of disappearance the sacramental foun...