Delay in four Hamlet biblical echoes

At least four biblical echoes in Hamlet besides the fall of Adam and Eve involve delay, and Elizabethans would have known each story[1]:

1. After King David’s affair with Bathsheba and arranging for the death of her husband, the prophet Nathan could have simply confronted David with his sins, but delayed to use a story to catch the king’s conscience (2 Sam 12:1-7). [2]

- This is echoed in Hamlet’s use of the play to catch the conscience of the king [2.2.634].
~~
2. David spared King Saul when he had two chances to kill him, which delayed David’s ascension to the throne [3].

- These David-Saul tales are echoed (with a dark twist) in Hamlet’s choice not to kill Claudius at prayer [3.3.80-100].
~~
3. Jonah fled west to Tarshish when he was called to prophesy to Nineveh (Jonah 1:1-3), delaying his prophecy. After a storm and being thrown overboard, Jonah is swallowed by a fish God sends to take him back east to do his task [4].

- Jonah’s westward voyage and east-bound transfer from ship to fish are echoed in Hamlet’s westward voyage toward England and his eastward transfer to the pirate ship [5].
~~
4. When Jesus appeared as a stranger to disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35), recognition was delayed. Were they not ready? (“The readiness is all.”) The stranger did things for them like what Jesus had done. They recognized him while breaking bread, a reminder of the Last Supper.

- The gravedigger-clown (a stranger to Hamlet) does things for Hamlet that his beloved Yorick had done. Instead of breaking bread, Hamlet hears a tale of how Yorick had poured a flagon of Rhenish on the gravedigger, a drinking companion of Yorick.

Emmaus: Broken bread.
Hamlet’s graveyard: Poured wine.
Last Supper: Both [6].
~~
If these biblical echoes hint at the richness and ambiguity of Hamlet’s meaningful delay, they may do so by contrast as much as by similarity.

#shakespeare #hamlet #history #delay


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

[1] “At least” because even salvation history as Elizabethans would have understood it, from Adam and Eve to Jesus, is a story of delay (the fall and original sin as a delay to salvation).

All of these stories would have been familiar because Bible reading was popular and church attendance required by law.

[2] This tale was the subject of a popular 1594 play, “The Love of King David and Fair Bethsabe,” by George Peele, with whom Shakespeare may have collaborated on “Titus Andronicus.”

[3] David spared the life of Saul first at En-Gedi in a cave (1 Samuel 24), and later at Ziph when Saul and his camp were asleep (1 Samuel 26). Saul was still king, considered God’s anointed, so David refused to kill him.

Shakespeare may also have had the Saul-David relationship in mind in writing “As You Like It,” which involves the legitimate ruler, Duke Senior, who does not take up arms against his usurping younger brother, Oliver.

[4] Shakespeare may have acted in a play based on this tale: In 1592, The Lord Strange’s Men (a playing company in which Shakespeare was active) performed a play based on this story, A Looking Glass For London and England, by Thomas Lodge and Robert Greene, which featured Jonah. Shakespeare may have played a role, and he later based “The Winter’s Tale” on a story by Greene. Shakespeare based “As You Like It” on a prose romance by Lodge.
[5] Starting in April of 2018, I did a series of six posts on Jonah and Hamlet, with the most recent in 2025. The index to that series is here: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/08/index-of-posts-on-jonah-in-hamlet.html

[6] Starting in May of 2018, I did a series of eight posts on the Emmaus echo in the graveyard in Hamlet, with a nod to the Emmaus echo in the courtyard scene of Merchant of Venice. The most recent was in 2025. The index to that Emmaus series is here: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/08/index-emmaus-in-hamlets-graveyard-and.html


IMAGES:

UPPER LEFT: The prophet Nathan catching the conscience of King David.
By Jacob Backer, c. 1633. Private collection. Public domain via https://www.pubhist.com/w7805

LOWER LEFT: To prove he could have killed him, David cuts a piece of cloth from Saul’s robe in the cave at En-gedi (where David was hiding with his men, and where Saul went in to relieve himself).
Year: 1372. Illustrator unknown. Miniature, Museum Meermanno Westreenianum, The Hague. From Petrus Comestor's "Bible Historiale" (manuscript "Den Haag, MMW, 10 B 23"). Public domain via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bible_Historiale_002.jpg

UPPER RIGHT: The fish spits out Jonah. 1621, by Pieter Lastman (1583–1633). Oil on oak.
Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Germany. Public domain via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pieter_Lastman_-_Jonah_and_the_Whale_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

LOWER RIGHT: The Supper at Emmaus, circa 1601. Caravaggio (1571–1610).
National Gallery, London. Public domain via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1602-3_Caravaggio,Supper_at_Emmaus_National_Gallery,_London.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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