Hamlet, Claudas, and Arthurian legends (Part 2, Claudius)
IN ARTHURIAN LEGENDS:
One of the villains in the Arthurian legends is named Claudas, a variant of Claudius, the main villain in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
But in fact, the Arthurian legends contain many of the essential plot elements of Hamlet.
Instead of “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” we could say,
many of the things Shakespeare and Saxo Grammaticus needed to know to write Hamlet, they could have learned from the Arthurian legends:
- The ghost of a parent [1] and warrior [2];
- a prince (or king) who relates to soldiers and close friends as equals [3];
- questions of marital infidelity [4] and of broken marriage promises [5];
- knightly codes of honor and violence that conflict at times with courtesy and Christian values [6]
- suicidal, love-forsaken women [7];
- the living body or dead corpse of a heartbroken woman, floating in a river or stream [8];
- contrast between characters who interpret too literally, or favor deeper insight [9];
- references to Christ’s blood [10], plot echoes of the Last Supper [11] and its chalice [12], also known in Arthurian legend as the “Holy Grail” or “Sangreal” [13].
Of all Shakespeare's plays, Hamlet is the only one that contains all of these elements shared with the old Arthur tales.
In a very rough sense, one could say that the Arthurian legends’ Claudas, and these other many elements, prepared the way for Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
[See blog for detailed notes.]
FOR INDEX AND INTRODUCTION TO THIS SERIES, SEE THE FOLLOWING LINK:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/11/index-why-claudius-not-feng-whats-in.html
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] In Hamlet: The ghost of King Hamlet.
In Arthurian legend: In the Middle English poem, “The Awntyrs off Arthure at the Terne Wathelyne” (“The Adventures of Arthur at Tarn Wadling”), the ghost of Guinevere’s mother appears to Guinevere and Gawain.
[2] In Hamlet: The ghost of Prince Hamlet’s warlike father;
In Arthurian legend: The Ghost of Gawain appears to Arthur (Thomas Malroy, Le Morte D'Arthur,
chapter 3 of book 21).
[3] In Hamlet: In 1.2, with Marcellus, Bernardo, and Horatio, Hamlet asks that they speak not of duty to him as prince but of their mutual loves for one another. This is particularly striking, to have a prince act this way, although as Hamlet descends into evil thoughts of revenge, he becomes less egalitarian.
- In Arthurian legend: The Round Table was about a king and his knights relating as equals around a table Merlin had made round as the world (Malroy, Le Morte D'Arthur, early reference to round table in Book 3, chapter 14; reference to Merlin making the Round Table, Book 14, chapter 2).
[4] In Hamlet: The ghost of King Hamlet accuses his wife and brother of adultery (1.5).
In Arthurian legend: Guinevere is unfaithful to Arthur by having an affair with Lancelot (Book VII: "Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere"). There are other instances of the theme of unfaithful lovers in the legends, such as the Vulgate Cycle or Lancelot Grail (see image, top right, and description in image notes).
[5] The ghost and Hamlet think Gertrude has been unfaithful by remarrying so soon;
Ophelia’s Valentine song in 4.5 implies Hamlet had broken his oaths to her, in spite of her having broken off the relationship first in obedience to her father.
- The Lady of the Lake acts as if an oath had been broken or a debt unpaid related to the sword, but she is killed (Malroy, Le Morte D'Arthur, Book 2, chapters I-III.).
[6.a.] Will Hamlet obey his father and exact revenge on his uncle, or will he leave vengeance to God? See Paul Cantor, interview with Bill Kristol:
"...by reviving classical antiquity within a Christian civilization you basically were setting up two ethics for people to follow. Hamlet’s a case in point. Here, Hamlet is faced with this issue of revenge.
Now, the classical tradition and the Christian tradition dictate very different responses to a revenge situation, and I feel that’s the key to understanding Hamlet’s inaction. His inability to make a decision. He’s being torn in two directions. So, I think Shakespeare in the play is, like Hamlet, exploring the deep ethical contradictions at a time when people were trying to revive the ancient world in a modern context.
As I like to put it, the Christian principle is the meek shall inherit the earth. The classical position is the Greek shall inherit the earth. Those are two very different views of the world."
https://conversationswithbillkristol.org/transcript/paul-cantor-transcript/
[6.b.] Also see Michael L. Hayes: “Le Morte D’Arthur as tragic romance setting courtly love and chivalric conduct in conflict, and both against Christian conduct” - similar to tensions with genres and Christianity in Hamlet [2].)
https://voegelinview.com/romancing-sources-framing-tales-hamlet-king-lear/
From Fn 17:
"Most college students, including English majors and graduate students, read few, if any, romances. If they do, [...] students usually read only short selections — and omit — so few ever learn about [...] Le Morte D’Arthur as tragic romance setting courtly love and chivalric conduct in conflict, and both against Christian conduct. So a preference for emotion and aesthetics, not action and ethics, guides curriculum choices. The two biases together dispense with the kind of romances — namely, chivalric romances — which Sidney commended, not for poesy, but for pertinence to public affairs, about the time when Shakespeare left Stratford for the stage."
[7] In Hamlet: Ophelia (4.5-5.1).
In Arthurian legend: An unnamed damsel who falls in love with Lanceor, and impales herself by falling on a sword when she can’t have him; and Elaine of Astolat (who loves and wants to marry Lancelot, but he cannot). (Malroy, Le Morte D'Arthur, Book 2, chapters 4-6.)
[8] In Hamlet: Ophelia, floating in a brook until she drowned (4.7).
In Arthurian legend: Elaine of Astolat, whose corpse was floated on a barge down-river to Camelot (Malroy, Le Morte D'Arthur, Book 10, chapters 19-20).
[9.a] In Hamlet: Hamlet plays the court fool, taking Polonius too literally about what he reads and what is the matter (2.2.208-213):
POLONIUS: What do you read, my
lord?
HAMLET Words, words, words.
POLONIUS What is the matter, my lord?
HAMLET Between who?
POLONIUS I mean the matter that you read, my lord.
[9.b] Gertrude takes Hamlet too literally and thinks he will eviscerate her (3.4.23-30):
HAMLET Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge.
You go not till I set you up a glass
Where you may see the inmost part of you.
QUEEN What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murder me?
Help, ho!
POLONIUS, behind the arras What ho! Help!
HAMLET How now, a rat? Dead for a ducat, dead.
[He kills Polonius by thrusting a rapier through the arras.]
[9.c] The gravedigger, like a court fool, takes Hamlet too literally about whose grave he digs (5.1.120-139):
HAMLET Whose grave’s this, sirrah?
GRAVEDIGGER Mine, sir. [sings ...]
HAMLET I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in ’t.
GRAVEDIGGER You lie out on ’t, sir, and therefore ’tis
not yours. For my part, I do not lie in ’t, yet it is
mine.
HAMLET Thou dost lie in ’t, to be in ’t and say it is thine.
’Tis for the dead, not for the quick; therefore thou
liest.
GRAVEDIGGER ’Tis a quick lie, sir; ’twill away again
from me to you.
HAMLET What man dost thou dig it for?
GRAVEDIGGER For no man, sir.
HAMLET What woman then?
GRAVEDIGGER For none, neither.
HAMLET Who is to be buried in ’t?
GRAVEDIGGER One that was a woman, sir, but, rest
her soul, she’s dead.
[9.d] and about how Hamlet went mad (5.1.161-166):
HAMLET How came he mad?
GRAVEDIGGER Very strangely, they say.
HAMLET How “strangely”?
GRAVEDIGGER Faith, e’en with losing his wits.
HAMLET Upon what ground?
GRAVEDIGGER Why, here in Denmark.
[9.e] In Arthurian legend: Gawain is too literal; Galahad’s interpretations are more nuanced:
See Rory Byrne, “‘Muse on my mirrour’: Gawain’s function in relation to the supernatural of Arthurian literature,” INNERVATE, Volume 3 (2010-2011), pp. 60-61:
There is a fundamental contrast established between Galahad and Gawain in [Malroy’s] the
‘Sankgreal’: [...] This distinction is highlighted by their respective ability to decode texts:
whereas Gawain, as discussed above, can only deduce literal meanings from his interactions
with the supernatural, Galahad’s readings of them are more discerning. For example, when
confronted by the White Knight who presents him with Joseph of Arimathea’s shield,[...] Galahad already fully understands the shield’s heritage [....] The knights, then, represent two opposing ends of
the interpretive spectrum: ‘the relentless literalness of Gawain and the inscrutable
abstractness of Galahad.’
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/documents/innervate/10-11/1011byrnegawain.pdf
[10] 2.2.390.
[11] The graveyard scene echoes the tale of the appearance of the risen Jesus to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, in which they recognize him in the breaking of bread. This echoes the Last Supper’s breaking of bread, but in the play, they recognize the gravedigger as a drinking buddy and kindred fool-spirit of Yorick in the telling of the gravedigger’s tale about Yorick pouring a flagon of wine on the gravedigger’s head. Breaking bread was only one thing shared at the Last Supper; pouring and sharing wine was the other. See my series on this: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/08/index-emmaus-in-hamlets-graveyard-and.html
[12] Some critics have long noted that for Claudius to poison a “chalice” of wine, this seems to be a sort of “black Mass”: Instead of sharing in the risen life of Jesus, it is a cup of death. See Dennis Taylor, Shakespeare and the Culture of Christianity in Early Modern England, Introduction, p.13. Ed. Dennis Taylor and David Beauregard.
[13] The quest for the Holy Grail is a central plot line for a variety of the initial writers on the Arthurian legends, including Chretien de Troyes (circa 1130-1190 CE) for whom it is a more pagan theme, and Sir Thomas Malory (c. 1393 or 1425 - c. 1470).
IMAGES:
Top, far left: Artist unknown.
Galahad knighted by his father Lancelot while Lionel and Bohort put on his spurs.
Priest with hands on gospels; nuns watch in admiration.
Public domain via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Adoubement_de_Galaad.png
Top mid-left: Edmund Leighton (1852–1922), English.
Guinevere knighting Lancelot, 1901.
Public domain via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Edmund_blair_leighton_accolade.jpg
Top, middle:
Reproduction of Holy-grail-round-table-ms-fr-112-3-f5r-1470-detail.
1470 (France claims 13th c.)
Original at Bibliothèque nationale de France
Author: Evrard d'Espinques
Public domain via
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:King_Arthur_and_the_Knights_of_the_Round_Table.jpg#/media/File:Holy-grail-round-table-ms-fr-112-3-f5r-1470-detail.jpg
Top, mid-right: Frederick Sandys (1829–1904)
King Pelles' Daughter bearing the Sancgraal (Grail), 1861.
Public domain via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Frederick_Sandys_-_King_Pelles_Daughter.jpg
Top, far right: Author/illustrator unknown.
Lancelot fights two dragons.
“In the Val without return, Morgan holds unfaithful lovers prisoner. To free them, Lancelot must lift the spells and face the two terrible dragons guarding the entrance of the valley.”
Circa 1404 - 1460.
Public domain via http://expositions.bnf.fr/arthur/grand/fr_118_296v.htm
Bottom: Sir Edward Burne-Jones, overall design and figures; William Morris, overall design and execution; John Henry Dearle, flowers and decorative details.
The Attainment: The Vision of the Holy Grail to Sir Galahad, Sir Bors, and Sir Perceval (also known as The Achievement of the Grail or The Achievement of Sir Galahad, accompanied by Sir Bors, and Sir Perceval).
Number 6 of the Holy Grail tapestries woven by Morris & Co.
1891-94 for Stanmore Hall.
This version woven by Morris & Co. for Lawrence Hodson of Compton Hall 1895-96.
Wool and silk on cotton warp.
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. 1895.
Public domain via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Galahad_grail.jpg
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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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