HAMLET, SUPERMAN, and ST. FRANCIS WALK INTO A BAR
What do they talk about? Fathers.
Was it ever more honorable to disobey your father than to obey him?
SUPERMAN, in the latest film (dir. James Gunn, 2025), faces a choice: His biological father on Krypton had recorded messages for him. One had been damaged, at first thought irretrievable. When finally decoded, Superman learned that he was sent to earth because its inhabitants were weaker, so that he could dominate them.
Should he obey his biological father’s plans for domination?
He disobeys and heeds the advice of his adoptive parents, using his powers to serve.
The first sentinel in Hamlet?
FRANCISO, named after FRANCIS OF ASSISI, once a soldier and prisoner of war. His father, a rich merchant, was not quick to ransom him for early release.
Francis later heard a voice: “Repair my church.” At first he thought this was about church buildings, but soon realized it was about repairing the body of believers to care more for the sick and poor. He took and sold some of his father’s things to finance his work, so his father tied him up, a prisoner in his own home (like Hamlet: “Denmark’s a prison” [1]).
Accused by his father of thieving before an episcopal tribunal, Francis gave back his clothes to his father and renounced him, saying, “I have a father in heaven.” He dedicated his life to service.
HAMLET’S FATHER told him to avenge his murder, but said,
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
Against thy mother aught. Leave her to heaven
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge
To prick and sting her. [2]
Hamlet disobeys:
He taints his mind, feigning madness. He contrives to catch his mother’s conscience in “The Mousetrap” and in her closet, caring more about her soul’s eternal fate than the ghost of his father did.
Like Francis and Superman, Hamlet found a surrogate father, Yorick.
In the end, the example of the pirates who had captured and returned him (“thieves of mercy” [3]) may help Hamlet to season justice with mercy [4].
NOTES: All references to Shakespeare plays are to the Folger Shakespeare Library online versions: https://shakespeare.folger.edu
[1] Hamlet 2.2.262.
[2] Hamlet 1.5.92-95.
[3] Hamlet 4.6.21.
[4] The Merchant of Venice, 4.1.202-203: “earthly power doth then show likest God’s / When mercy seasons justice.” Also see, Morgan, David C.H. “‘When mercy seasons justice’: How and (Why) Hamlet Does Not Kill Claudius.” Morgan believes Hamlet hands Claudius the cup, and Claudius, like an “antique Roman,” drinks the poisoned wine of his own volition - but that this possibly original reading was lost over time as it became more dramatic for Hamlet to force it down his throat.
Hamlet Studies 10.1-10.2 (1988): 47-78.
http://triggs.djvu.org/global-language.com/ENFOLDED/index.php?page=texts.php?sects=studies
IMAGES:
Left:
Hamlet sees the Ghost, the spirit of his father, from 'The Illustrated Library Shakespeare', published London 1890. Cropped for collage. Public domain, colorized. Fair use. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/John_Gilbert_-_Hamlet_in_the_Presence_of_His_Father%27s_Ghost.JPG
Middle:
David Corenswet as Clark Kent and Superman in James Gunn’s 2025 film. Fair use via Forbes. Cropped for collage. https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/663928f53887710e4e314c99/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&crop=1079,720,x0,y417,safe&height=900&width=1600&fit=bounds
Right:
Legend of St. Francis, 5. Renunciation of worldly goods, by Giotto. 1297-99, Fresco, Upper Church, San Francesco, Assisi. Cropped for collage. Public domain. https://www.wga.hu/art/g/giotto/assisi/upper/legend/franc05.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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