Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

“Words, words, words”: Hamlet, the Second Commandment & Idolatries of Reformation Literalism In Shakespeare’s lifetime, Protestants accused Catholics of idolatry, taking too literally their Eucharist (“this is my body”). Protestants claimed that more figurative meanings had been intended. To them, Catholics - like the ghost in Hamlet - went through the motions mechanically, without sincerity. To Protestants, this was artificial and idolatrous [1]. Shakespeare scholar Jennifer Rust (2003) [2] has noted that the mechanical reproduction of translated Bibles created new, similar problems of idolatry for Protestants, citing Greenblatt (1980) [3] regarding what he calls a fetishism of the printed word (94). Instead of a Latin Bible interpreted by the authority of bishops alone, greater access resulted in an exponentially higher number of contentious disagreements and potential idolatries [4]. Many factions claimed that they possessed true interpretations, and that others did not. B...

The ways that different Christian groups numbered the Ten Commandments may mean little to us today, but these meant a great deal in Shakespeare’s lifetime and may have left its marks on Hamlet. Catholics and Lutherans followed the numbering of St. Augustine (5th century):  1. THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BUT ME - and - THOU SHALT NOT MAKE TO THYSELF ANY GRAVEN IMAGE.  The second half emphasizes the first: Worship God alone, not other gods or graven images.  But reformed churches (including Calvinist Scottish and English churches) used an older numbering of Origen (3rd Century):  1. "THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BUT ME."  2. "THOU SHALT NOT MAKE TO THYSELF ANY GRAVEN IMAGE."  Graven images included icons, statues, paintings: targets of Elizabethan iconoclasm.  To reformed churches, Catholics were idolators, worshiping statues, rosaries, and paintings of saints instead of God alone. Following the older numbering from Origen made it easier to justify...

Puritans in Shakespeare’s time had a reputation for being no fun. As Sir Toby Belch says in Twelfth Night 2.3, "Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?" The Second Commandment: "THOU SHALT NOT MAKE TO THYSELF ANY GRAVEN IMAGE."  HAMLET AND OPHELIA: In his love letter, Hamlet calls Ophelia “celestial” and addresses her as “my soul’s idol” (2.2.117) [4]. Such rhetoric may have been a convention, but Shakespeare highlights this in a play with other idolatry issues. In a repressed and religiously charged context, Shakespeare may have (in part) been tweaking the preacher’s nose (like Sir Toby to Malvolio).  Sermons warned against idolatry [1] and the wearing of makeup [2], saying as Hamlet does to Ophelia, “God hath given you one face, and you / make yourselves another” (3.1.155-6), equating artifice, painting and “whorish” makeup with graven images, the devil, and idolatry [3].   PAINTINGS:  In 3.4, Hamlet says, “Look here u...

Whether or not Hamlet violates the First or Second Commandment (or none at all) in comparing his father to classical gods, through these comparisons, what might Hamlet's analogies reveal? 1. By comparing his father to four classical gods, this implies that Prince Hamlet is like a son of a god [1]. 2. By starting with Hyperion – among the Titans whose divine reign was overthrown – this echoes his father having been killed by Claudius [2]. 3. The overturning of the old divine order – the rule of Hyperion and the Titans – also echoes the Reformation, which sought to break bonds with Rome and the old Christian order, and to embody a new, reformed order. In this way, English Renaissance fascination with Titans and gods may have been an analogical way to write about what was sometimes forbidden, restricted, discouraged [3]. 4. Comparing his father to Mars, god of war, makes sense, given the dead king’s reputation as a warrior; this also contrasts with Claudius, the cowardly...

The First Commandment, "THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BUT ME,” has both a literal meaning (Don’t worship other deities) and figurative meanings. What matters most? One could say that one’s highest priority is, figuratively, one’s god. In an Elizabethan understanding, one could serve God in many practical ways, but one could also be distracted toward vice or tempted to sin and selfish priorities.  Moses came down from the mountain, but the people had created a golden calf. This was always interpreted figuratively as well as literally: Don’t make hoarding wealth your god. Don’t misplace your priorities.  What matters most to each character? (Do priorities evolve with character arc?) An actor or director’s understanding of character motivation or priorities may vary greatly depending on the cast and the director’s overall vision.  Feel free to comment regarding what you see as character priorities. In the footnotes, see some of my own thoughts on each character… ...

The First Commandment, "THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BUT ME,” doesn’t mention pride, but Christian tradition considered it to be like playing god, the worst of the seven deadly sins from which the others proceed [1].  By apocryphal tradition it was the sin of Satan and the fallen angels, who in their pride believed they were equal to God or might usurp God’s throne [2].  KING HAMLET & OLD FORTINBRAS: Horatio in 1.1 notes pride: […] our last king, [...] Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway, Thereto pricked on by a most emulate *pride,* Dared to the combat… (1.1.92-96)  King Hamlet was “Dared to the combat”; instead of humbly urging peace instead of violence, “pricked on by… emulate pride,” he accepted the challenge and killed the Norwegian king, both of them gambling their lives and sons’ inheritance – and the future of their countries – on pride.  No “sealed compact,” “law” or “heraldry” (1.1.98-101) can excuse this sin of pride, and it may be among t...