Hamlet 1.1: "This spirit dumb to us, will speak to him" and the Synoptic Gospels

At the end of the first scene of Hamlet, Horatio says that their failure to get the ghost or apparition to speak is a problem that should be referred to the prince:

Horatio: "This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him" (1.1.186).

This echoes a tale in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) following the story of the transfiguration [1].

Horatio uses the words “dumb” and “spirit” in describing the ghost. Note similar language in the 1599 Geneva translation of Mark 9:17-19:

17 [...] Master, I have brought my son unto thee, which hath a dumb spirit:

18 And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him, and he foameth, and gnasheth his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples, that they should cast him out, and they could not.

19 Then he answered him, and said, O faithless generation, how long now shall I be with you! how long now shall I suffer you! Bring him unto me.

Note the progression:
“dumb spirit” (v.17);
“thy disciples [...] should cast him out, and they could not” (v.18);
“Bring him unto me” (v.19).

These chapters in the synoptic gospels were omitted from Sunday readings in the Elizabethan Book of Common Prayer [2], but still read at morning prayer three times every year for a total of nine times a year [3]. 

In Hamlet 1:1-2, Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo refer the problem of the “dumb spirit” to Hamlet, confident that he will succeed where they had failed. 

This allusion presents Hamlet as a parallel to Jesus, as do other early allusions [4] before Hamlet descends into evil and revenge, and late in the play after his sea voyage and the graveyard reminiscence of Yorick [5]. 

What is the significance of this besides Hamlet as Christ-figure? In part it foreshadows that the Ghost is potentially a spirit of demonic possession that may cause not merely feigned, but real madness for Hamlet.

The presence of allusions to this and to the transfiguration (in 1.5) [6] illustrates that Shakespeare’s biblical knowledge was not limited to Sunday church attendance, but also included either Morning Prayer attendance or personal bible reading beyond the Sunday readings.

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

[1] The account of the boy possessed by a “dumb spirit” can be found in Mark 9:14-29, Matthew 17:14-20, and Luke 9:37-43, each of which was read three times a year at morning prayer.

[2] Thomas Cranmer omitted the Feast of the Transfiguration from The Book of Common Prayer in 1552, so this may explain his omission of the following chapters from the Sunday readings: Mark 9, Matthew 17, and Luke 9. In 1560, Elizabeth restored observation of the August 6 feast, but no readings were designated for that day.

[3] Mark 9 was read on 9 February, 8 June, and  6 October;
Matthew 17 was read on 19 January, 19 May, and 16 September;
Luke 9 was read on 27 February, 26 June, and 23 October.
So some version of the story was read nine times a year at morning prayer, but not at the main Sunday services.

[4]  “Hamlet As Servant-Prince: A Paraphrased & Often-Missed Bible Allusion” - May 29, 2017: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/05/hamlet-as-servant-prince-paraphrased.html

[5] Some scholars have - for various reasons, many of them good - resisted the idea of Christ-figures in Shakespeare, yet Hamlet has many such allusions. The Elizabethan Book of Common Prayer didn’t say you had to be perfect to be a Christ figure, but that baptism made it one's vocation to die to the old Adam and rise to be more like Jesus…

[6] Hamlet 1.5 echoes the transfiguration, because in the gospel accounts, Jesus takes three disciples (Peter, James, and John) who witness him transfigured and speaking with Moses and Elijah. This also suggests that the spirits of the dead might speak to the living, which Protestants may have preferred to deny. Hamlet and two others (Horatio, Marcellus) number three when Hamlet joins the night watch in 1.5 to see and speak with the ghost. See my 2019 post, “DARK TRANSFIGURATION & MOSES ECHOES in HAMLET 1.4-5,” - April 29, 2019: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/04/dark-transfiguration-moses-echoes-in.html

IMAGES:
TOP: Act 1, scene 1, Hamlet. Doran, Gregory, dir. Hamlet. By William Shakespeare. Performed by David Tennant. London: Royal Shakespeare Company / BBC, 2009. DVD. Via HYPERION TO A SATYR, Sunday, May 30, 2010 and BBC. Image fair use via https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEher9F4CURd8R975jwkfJDcKeKw-Y0wCNLshtmXO8FnIJb-NFvfnZ8gEMHOQ5R30IMbf0kGIn_ZKZ0xs83Kw4buKNZjf3rrxr_1nHKUcKVbptvIF7aCHtz6isM7wMX9C1AQ-Z3q-lHRGw8/s1600/hamlet09-1-2.jpg

BOTTOM LEFT:
Title: Shakespeare's Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. 1890.
The Ghost in Hamlet (T. R. Gould). 
Rolfe, W. J. (William James), 1827-1910. Publisher: New York : Harper & Brothers.
Contributing Library: Harold B. Lee Library. Digitizing Sponsor: Brigham Young University.
Public domain via https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Shakespeare%27s_Tragedy_of_Hamlet%2C_Prince_of_Denmark_%281890%29_%2814586366959%29.jpg

BOTTOM RIGHT:
John Gilbert (1817–1897). Date: 1890. Source: William Shakespeare: Shakespeare's Sämmtliche Werke. Bd. 4. Stuttgart : Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, [1890]. TITLE: Hamlet in the Presence of His Father's Ghost. Public domain via https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/John_Gilbert_-_Hamlet_in_the_Presence_of_His_Father%27s_Ghost.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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