Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

CLAUDIUS UNNAMED: Why – at the end of the reign of Elizabeth I – would Shakespeare have characters in Hamlet be silent regarding the king’s name, in a play involving an “incestuous marriage” in which the king marries his older brother’s widow? Some things could not be named. In the minds of audiences, the incestuous marriage would seem uncomfortably close to the first marriage of Henry VIII. For similar reasons, Richard II could not include the deposition scene when first published [1], and Shakespeare’s collaboration with John Fletcher on Henry VIII was not written or enacted until 1613 [2]. Why? Censorship, fear, and tact. Everyone knew that - Henry VIII, Elizabeth’s father, had married his older brother’s widow, and later divorced her, claiming it an incestuous marriage… - and that Elizabeth was sometimes called a “bastard queen”: Henry and Anne Boleyn had conceived Elizabeth out of wedlock; Elizabeth was born only three months after a secret marriage, making her ineligible in th...

It is said that in Shakespeare’s plays, all resurrections are staged, faked: Much Ado About Nothing (Hero) [1]; Henry IV, Part 1 (Falstaff) [2]. Staging can fail badly: Romeo and Juliet [3] (as if to admit the limitations of such staging?). Poor Tom/Edgar stages a miracle for Gloucester in King Lear [4].   Sonnet 18 ends, “So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, / So long lives this, and this gives life to thee,” as if the poem bestows (stages) everlasting life. What to make of this? As is said in Hamlet of Ophelia’s “mad” speech, many will “botch” these facts up “fit to their own thoughts” [5]: Atheists may claim this proves Shakespeare’s atheism. Christians may note: Miracle and Mystery Plays were banned by Henry VIII, still restricted in Elizabethan times. Even if Shakespeare wanted to portray resurrections, his hands were tied. Many of Hamlet’s verbal tricks with Claudius [6] and Polonius [7] (and Claudius again [8]) – and the gravedigger’s with Hamlet [8] – depend on ta...

Years ago, prompted by a student question, I noticed that Hamlet’s westward sea-voyage toward England - and change of mode of transportation mid-sea - was like Jonah’s. I thought others had probably noticed and considered this at length, but never found any. Hannibal Hamlin notes that a popular play, “A Looking Glass for London and England,” featured the prophet Jonah [1] (performed when Shakespeare was with The Lord Strange's Men), and that Elizabeth I named one of her ships Elizabeth Jonas, with a speech that (strangely?) read the Jonah story as a triumph over enemies [2]. Two gospels quote Jesus speaking of the “sign of Jonah” [3]. English citizens were required to attend church, and would have heard these every year of their lives [4]. Many people only know that Jonah was swallowed by a fish. Fewer know that, even after being saved from the fish’s belly, Jonah would rather witness the destruction of Nineveh than see them repent and be saved by God’s mercy. Dennis Taylor notes t...

GOOD FRIDAY & CAIN IN GERTRUDE'S CLOSET Compare: Hamlet 3.4.31-32, after Hamlet kills Polonius unseen: Queen:  O me, WHAT HAST THOU DONE? * Hamlet:  Nay, I KNOW NOT. Is it the King? * [1] Genesis 4:9-10, Geneva trans.: Then the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? Who answered, I cannot tell. Am I my brother’s keeper? Again he said, WHAT HAST THOU DONE? * the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me, from the earth. Luke 23:34, Geneva, Jesus from the cross: Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them: for THEY KNOW NOT what they do. * (* Emphasis mine) - Queen Gertrude echoes God to Cain: What hast thou done? - Hamlet echoes Jesus from the cross: I know not (what I've done). AT LEAST TWO IMPLICATIONS: 1. By killing a human being, Hamlet has sinned, like Cain killing his brother. 2. By stabbing the person hidden behind the arras, blind to who he was stabbing, Hamlet fits what Jesus says from the cross: They know not what they do. WHY HAS THIS BEEN MISSED by previous...

Why is there an echo of the names of two friends of Dr. Faustus, from the Christopher Marlowe play, in Shakespeare’s Hamlet? It’s like an Easter Egg [1]. Fans of the 1982 film, E.T., have noticed that one of the Halloween trick-or-treaters wears a Yoda costume, a Star Wars reference, and that in the 1999 film, The Phantom Menace, some members of the galactic senate appear as if from E.T.’s home world. An Easter Egg in this context is often another way of saying “allusion.” If you know the feelings associated with an image or line in one film, later characters (within or outside of that particular franchise) can repeat that phrase to evoke a similar idea or feeling, with variations. Filmmakers know that many moviegoers are “literate” in this way regarding other films. The same was true of Shakespeare, who knew that many in his audiences were familiar with Christopher Marlowe’s plays, including Dr. Faustus. Massaro and Usher noted in 2022 that the names Cornelius and Voltemand, Ambassa...

In Part 4 of this series [1] I noted that Chaucer in “The Physicians Tale” has a lecherous villain named Appius Claudius who desires a young woman who has no interest in him, and who with his servant (also named Claudius) schemes to make her his slave [2]. The repetition of the name Claudius may imply both that the servant is like a fawning courtier, and that Appius Claudius was vain to hire a servant who shared his name. The villain-with-a-sidekick is a tradition also tapped into by the Austin Powers spy-comedy, Goldmember, with its villain, Dr. Evil, who has a sidekick Mini-Me (played by Verne Jay Troyer) [3]. I mentioned in Part 4 that scholars note the influence of Chaucer in as many as nine Shakespeare plays [4]. So it’s clear that Shakespeare knew Chaucer’s work. But did he know of Claudius-times-two in that tale? It would be easier to believe that he did, and was indicating so in Hamlet, if only he had included some servant of Claudius who was also named Claudius.... Hmmm.... ...

Geoffrey Bullough (1957-1972), Isaac Asimov (1970), and Harold Jenkins (1982) all noted Shakespeare having changed the name of Hamlet's uncle “Feng” to “Claudius”: Asimov: "The reigning King of Denmark, who has succeeded the elder Hamlet[...] is Claudius. Shakespeare has chosen an aristocratic Roman name for the purpose. (It was the name of a patrician family in the time of the Republic and one from which several of the early emperors were descended—including Claudius, the fourth Emperor, under whom Britain was conquered in the years following Cymbeline's death.[1]) In Saxo Grammaticus' original tale, the new King was named Feng, and perhaps Shakespeare did well to change that." (87)  [2] Jenkins: "The King's name is knows from his first entry-direction and first speech-heading, after which, however, it is never used again."  [3] Jenkins continues: "It was evidently suggested by that of the Roman emperor who married Agrippina, his niece and th...

Hamlet's relation to his step-father, King Claudius, and Nero's to *his* step-father, Claudius I, offer key similarities and contrasts: Many note that Hamlet in 1.2 dislikes Claudius calling him "son" so soon after his father's death. Memorable lines: KING ... But now, my cousin Hamlet and my son— HAMLET [aside] A little more than kin and less than kind. KING How is it that the clouds still hang on you? HAMLET Not so, my lord; I am too much in the sun. (1.2.66-69) “Cousin" in Shakespeare's time could apply loosely to a nephew. "...too much in the sun." [son - pun] Although the name is not spoken in the play, in the 1604 Second Quarto and later editions, at the start of 1.2 (his first entrance), he is named: "Enter Claudius, King of Denmark...." In 3.2, Hamlet mentions Nero: Claudius I, Emperor of Rome, married the daughter of his brother, his niece, who already had a son, Nero; Claudius adopted Nero as a son and heir; so Nero was grand...