Ophelia, Baker's Daughters, and Prostitutes (Ophelia postlude)
Hanratty mentions an 1851 source about an ancient connection between baker's daughters and prostitutes. Presumably, prostitutes waited for customers at bakeries, and "On certain festivals, the master bakers sold nothing but sacrificial breads, and at the same time they had slave girls or servant maids who prostituted themselves day and night in the bakery.” [4]
This, like many Freudian readings, may seem a sexually reductionist explanation.
But note: Both the baker's daughter in the tale, and the prostitute, are concerned with monetary profit, when what they offer might also be considered a gift:
In a healthy relationship, sexual pleasure might best be a mutual gift, not a for-profit exchange. In a healthy community, beggars get fed (as do potential prostitutes, so fewer turn to prostitution to survive) - and people don't get too concerned about neglecting opportunities for profit.
Also, feeding beggars may make one honorable, as Hamlet says to Polonius about accommodations for the players: The more generous you are to the undeserving, the better [5].
(This sidesteps the idea of pimps or "fishmongers" exploiting women in prostitution, but still holds true: A pimp can still be like the gospel's "rich man" who neglects or exploits the prostitute or beggar.)
As noted in previous posts [6], Ophelia may feel guilty for turning Hamlet away like a beggar, for following her father's advice not to accept Hamlet's oaths (1.3.122-123);
Polonius wants her to "tender" herself "more dearly" (literally, to charge more, playing on the idea of "legal tender" as money; figuratively, to wait for an official marriage proposal).
So the baker's daughter and the prostitute may have some things in common after all. "Get thee to a nunnery" [7] indeed.
POSTSCRIPT: I had mentioned that the 1851 source which Hanratty mentions may seem sexually reductionist, like some Freudian readings - and it occurs to me that if it was from 1851, the Victorian era was quite repressive sexually, as noted in an article I re-posted recently on Bram Stoker (tangentially on Oscar Wilde and Walt Whitman) - so the 1851 source, supposedly a history of prostitution, may have been written as much for shock factor and book sales as for historical accuracy -
and for those reasons -
it's understandable that the author may have been less interested in the resemblance of "The Owl was a Baker's Daughter" to the rich man and Lazarus, than in the titillating effect of a book about the history of prostitution...
(See also Stuart Kells: in his book, Shakespeare's Library, one of the apparent tangents he explores involves how various books - regarding what was in Shakespeare's library, or in this case, perhaps regarding the history of prostitution - authors would cobble together essentially plagiarized material, along with fabricated material, in order to increase book sales....)
And yet another connection relating to bakeries is the idea, when a woman is pregnant, she or the family will sometimes say that she has "a bun in the oven"...
NOTES: All references to Hamlet (and other Shakespeare plays) are to the Folger Shakespeare Library online versions: https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/hamlet/entire-play/
[1] Hanratty, Connor, "EPISODE 127 - THE OWL WAS A BAKER'S DAUGHTER," The Hamlet Podcast, May 17, 2020, https://www.thehamletpodcast.com/shownotes/2020/5/18/episode-127-the-owl-was-a-bakers-daughter
[2] 4.5.47-49.
[3] Luke 16:19-31.
[4] Hanratty's quote is from an English translation of Histoire de la prostitution..., a multi-volume work by Paul Lacroix, aka Pierre Dufour, aka P.L. Jacob, originally in French, 1851, English translations 1926 and later. Both the French and the English versions are available via Archive.org.
[5] 2.2.553-559:
POLONIUS My lord, I will use them according to their
desert.
HAMLET God’s bodykins, man, much better! Use every
man after his desert and who shall ’scape
whipping? Use them after your own honor and
dignity. The less they deserve, the more merit is in
your bounty. Take them in.
[6]
[6.a.] Owl & Beggar Lazarus at Baker's Door in Hamlet 4.5 (part 11)
- April 27, 2021
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-begggar-lazarus-at-bakers-door-in.html
[6.b.] Part 17: Ophelia's "Owl" and "False Steward" Allusions: Why in that order?
- October 03, 2023
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/10/part-17-ophelias-owl-and-false-steward.html
[6.c] Part 25: Ophelia's Self-Catching Conscience in the Mirror of her Arts
- November 28, 2023
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/11/part-25-ophelias-self-catching.html
[7] In 3.1, Hamlet tells Ophelia five times to get to a “nunnery,” which may mean a convent, or in Elizabethan slang, a brothel. See lines 131, 140, 149, 151, 162.
IMAGES:
Left: Hieronymus Bosch (circa 1450–1516), detail (lower right, center panel),
"The Garden of Earthly Delights" (circa 1480 - 1500?). Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain. Public domain via https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hieronymus_Bosch_030.jpg
Center: Illustration by John Tenniel, "Miss Bun the Baker's Daughter," from (card game) "Happy Families," Jacques, 1861. Public domain via https://www.mediastorehouse.com/p/164/happy-families-miss-bun-bakers-daughter-20143979.jpg.webp
See also https://www.wopc.co.uk/games/jaques-happy-families
Right: Hieronymus Bosch (circa 1450–1516), detail (lower left, center panel),
"The Garden of Earthly Delights" (circa 1480 - 1500?). Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain. Public domain via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bosch,_Hieronymus_-_The_Garden_of_Earthly_Delights,_central_panel_-_Detail_Owl_with_boy.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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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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