LAMETH and the 10th Day of Christmas in Churches of Shakespeare's Time, January 3 - Series, Part 10

10TH DAY OF CHRISTMAS IN SHAKESPEARE’S TIME, JANUARY 3:
Matthew 2 revisits the Epiphany’s wise men, star, and Herod, from the December 28 gospel [1];
Genesis 3 tells of the serpent deceiving Adam and Eve, a Hamlet theme [2];
Romans 2 repeats “circumcision of the heart” (v.29), already heard on January 1.

Two readings involve vengeance:
- David in Psalm 3 calls upon a vengeful God (has avenged him before) to save him from the rebellion of his son, Absalom [3].
- One mentions a descendant of Cain whose name is an anagram for Hamlet: Genesis 4, at evening prayer, mentions Lamech/Lameth [4], who boasts of his vengeance, and in legend, accidentally kills his ancestor Cain, triggering God’s curse [5].

The Danish source for Hamlet has the prince named Amleth. “Amleth” an anagram of “Hamlet,” but so is “Lameth.”

In 5.2, Hamlet regrets acting badly toward Laertes at Ophelia’s grave, and tries to apologize for blindly killing Polonius behind the arras, without publicly admitting his intended target was Claudius. He tells Laertes, “I have shot my arrow o'er the house / And hurt my brother.” (257-258)
- This echoes the legend of Lameth, who as an aging descendant of an older Cain, blindly shoots his arrow into a bush thinking it is a deer, but kills Cain.

Implications?
1. As Claudius is a Cain-like brother-killer, then if Hamlet kills Claudius, will he receive God’s curse reserved for Cain’s killer? (Claudius echoes, but is not, Cain.)
2. While a Lameth-Hamlet anagram suggests a connection, in fact these are not the same: When I go to “cinema,” I don’t go to its anagram, “iceman.”
3. Does Hamlet as anagram of Lameth suggest predestined punishment, or merely the risk?
4. Might the choice for Hamlet to kill the unrepentant murderous usurper Claudius still be the most charitable for Denmark, to keep him from “further evil” [6]?

The play raises these questions.

[To be cont.]

INDEX for posts in this series on the TWELVE DAYS of CHRISTMAS in Shakespeare’s time (and possible influences on the plays):
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/12/twelve-days-of-christmas-in-churches-of.html

NOTES: All references to Shakespeare plays are to the Folger Shakespeare Library online versions: https://shakespeare.folger.edu

[1] Matthew 2 is the second lesson for Morning Prayer on January 3, which Shakespeare would have heard on that day every January 3 of his life if he attended, and which he may have read in a household Bible.

[2] Genesis 3 is the first lesson for Morning Prayer on January 3. In Hamlet, “Cain’s jawbone” is mentioned in the graveyard scene (5.1), and Claudius associates his murder of his brother with the murder of Abel by brother Cain when he is at prayer in 3.3 and says, “O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven; / It hath the primal eldest curse upon't, / A brother's murther!”

[3] In Psalm 3, King David, fleeing the rebellion of his son Absolom, says in v.7, “7 O Lord, arise: help me, my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbone: thou hast broken the teeth of the wicked.”
- Many scripture passages describe God as a vengeful God who says in Deuteronomy 32:35 that “Vengeance and recompense are mine: their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their destruction is at hand.”
- Romans 12:19 counsels Christians, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine: I will repay, saith the Lord.”
- The Book of Revelations (also known as the Apocalypse of John) asserts in its long narrative that Jesus will come again to take up the righteous and to avenge evildoers.

[4] Vladimir Brljak seems to have been among the first to notice this in his article,
“Hamlet and Lameth”, Notes and Queries 58.2 (2011): 247‐54,
Available for free at
https://www.academia.edu/5252513/Hamlet_and_Lameth
Others cite Brljak, including John Gilles, “The Question of Original Sin in "Hamlet"
Shakespeare Quarterly, Vol. 64, No. 4 (Winter 2013), pp. 396-424 (29 pages)

[5] Genesis 4:15 says in part,
“whosoever slayeth Cain, he shall be punished seven fold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any man finding him, should kill him.”
This has possible implications, not only for whoever might kill Claudius, who is a Cain figure for having killed his brother King Hamlet, but also for Prince Hamlet suspecting that his mother may have played a part in the murder, and mentioning in 3.4,
“takes off the rose
From the fair forehead of an innocent love,
And sets a blister there.”
- Many see this as a reference to a mark of syphilis (sometimes confused with leprosy) on a whore, but it may also point to the mark God places on Cain’s forehead.

[6] “And is ’t not to be
damned
To let this canker of our nature come
In further evil?” (5.2.77-80)


IMAGES:
Left: Detail (crop) from Rudolf von Ems: Weltchronik. Böhmen (Prag), 3. Viertel 14. Jahrhundert. Hochschul- und Landesbibliothek Fulda, Aa 88. Bildbeschreibung nach Martin Roland.
Miniatur 174 286r Abschaloms Tod.
The death of Absalom, rebellious son of King David, hung by his hair from a tree (circa 1350-1375).
Public domain via https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Weltchronik_Fulda_Aa88_286r_detail.jpg

Center: Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640)
Cain slaying his brother Abel (Genesis 4:2-12)
Circa 1608 and 1609
Courtauld Institute of Art
University of London
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Peter_Paul_Rubens_-_Cain_slaying_Abel%2C_1608-1609.jpg

IMAGES: Right: Claudius (played by Patrick Stewart) being handed by Hamlet the cup whose poison killed Gertrude (from which he will drink like an "ancient Roman" to commit suicide) in the 2009 film, Hamlet,
dir. Gregory Doran.
Fair use.
Source: https://thedeathofkings.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/p011xyt4.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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