Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

HAMLET, THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT, and WHORING (series) “Whoring” has long been used figuratively to describe political corruption, like the unfaithfulness of adultery of which some kings and leaders have been found guilty. Hamlet Haven summarizes Kay Stanton’s hermeneutic of deep suspicion in “Hamlet’s Whores” [2]:  This interpretation explores all the variations of whore-dom in Hamlet. The women are not the only ones prostituted. Like Ophelia, Hamlet is “‘whored’ by the father”: “The older generation incestuously prostitutes [...] the younger” (169). Further examples include Polonius prostituting Laertes and Reynaldo with plans of spying and Claudius, the “symbolic father,” similarly misusing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (169). But the victims are not entirely innocent either. Hamlet “whores” the theater and its actors [...] by perverting artistic purpose and integrity (173), and the play-within-the-play “whores him as he has whored it, making him [...] one of the ‘guilty creatures...

"My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites: How in my words somever she be shent, To give them seals never, my soul, consent." (Hamlet 3.2.430-432) This proves beyond a doubt that Hamlet aspires to be vegetarian, or at least refuses to let seal meat touch his tongue, no matter how much he may desire to eat it!! 😜 IMAGES via Britanica

The Seventh Commandment (against adultery) relates to Hamlet in at least three ways: 1. GERTRUDE: The ghost calls his brother “that adulterate beast” (1.5.49-54) [1]. But was this *before* the king’s death, or is the ghost complaining that Gertrude still belonged to him even after his death? Gertrude never admits to adultery. She may have been convinced to marry Claudius to prevent war with Norway (1.2.5-25), in spite of the scandal of a marriage to a dead husband’s brother. The spots she sees on her soul (3.4.100-102 ) may be more for a biblically incestuous marriage and denying her son the throne than adultery – or perhaps in retrospect she feels guilty for not suspecting Claudius of murder? 2. BIBLICAL ALLUSIONS TO ADULTERY IN HAMLET: - Hamlet’s “Mousetrap” echoes that of the prophet Nathan, catching the conscience of King David after adultery and murder (2 Samuel 11-12). - Hamlet names the player queen “Baptista,” after John the Baptist, beheaded after oppos...

In Elizabethan England, there was a popular and widely known biblical tale about a prophet who kills a king. The tale was used to discourage rebellion, but contained unintended implications. We may prefer to think that Christianity is about love of enemies, not killing murderous usurping kings. But in fact, writers of homilies for the Elizabethan church cited an especially interesting example: God had ordered King Saul to kill King Agag and all his followers and livestock [1]. But Saul disobeyed. So the prophet Samuel slew King Agag. The prophet killed a wicked king, because King Saul had failed to do it [2]. To authorities, this demonstrated that no one should disobey or rebel against God, even monarchs, so neither should English subjects rebel against their queen. The killing of Agag by Samuel is mentioned in two official homilies [3]. It was not as rarely heard in churches as it is today. But consider the implications: The story presents a monarch who disobeyed, and a prophet who ...

Yesterday we attended a very fine production of Shakespeare's As You Like It , courtesy of the now Minneapolis-based theater company, Ten Thousand Things. Some performances are free for underserved communities in prisons, retirement homes, schools and more, and others are for paying audiences to help support their free productions. The performance we saw yesterday was hosted at Hennepin United Methodist Church in Minneapolis, but there are still to come performances there and at other locations. The performances are in the round in non-traditional spaces, with minimal props and the lights on, not so much unlike productions at Shakespeare's original Globe Theater. Music by Joni Griffith was amazing and appropriate, a central feature. The actors were all expert, enthusiastic, fun, and the whole thing felt a bit raw: For me, it highlighted the context of political usurpation and tyranny, and the extremes to which characters had to go to escape and/or transform difficu...

The Sixth Commandment is, "THOU SHALT DO NO MURDER," prominently displayed in all English Elizabethan churches. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, how many people kill another, or attempt to, or are widely blamed for the death of another? 1. In the back-story, King Hamlet and Old Fortinbras try to kill each other in a contest for land; King Hamlet wins [1]. 2. Claudius poisons his brother, King Hamlet [2]. 3. Hamlet kills Polonius [3]. 4. Claudius tries to have England kill Prince Hamlet [4]. 5. When that doesn’t work, Claudius conspires with Laertes to poison Prince Hamlet [5]. 6. Ophelia drowns: Accidental, suicidal, or holy death accepted in peace [6], or murder by Claudius [6.a.] or by Gertrude [6.b.]. 7. Young Fortinbras will wage war on Poland, a worthless patch of land, "an eggshell" (4.4.56), perhaps at a cost of "The imminent death of twenty thousand men" (4.4.63). If the war is unjust, the deaths are on the head of Fortinbras. 8. Laertes and Hamlet fight a...

How and why should Hamlet honor his father and mother if they behaved badly? The Fifth Commandment: “HONOR THY FATHER AND THY MOTHER.” In the 1991 film, “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," Robin (played by Kevin Costner) saves the life of a Muslim, Azeem (Morgan Freeman) who says he must follow and help Robin until he has repaid his “life-debt”: Azeem owes Robin his life; the debt must be repaid [1]. In theory, the duty to honor parents is similar and not merely autoritarian: Children owe parents their lives, and this is at best (though not always) a happy debt to be honored. Hamlet’s mother married her dead husband’s brother, a marriage considered incestuous in Denmark and England at the time of Shakespeare’s writing.  The ghost claims Gertude and Claudius had an affair, but Gertrude never admits to that in the play. Can the ghost be trusted? Was the "affair" actually after the murder, winning her over too soon after her husband was dead? Even if she married Claudius s...

Among the Ten Commandments posted prominently at the front of every church in Shakespeare’s England, the Fourth Commandment was to “KEEP HOLY THE SABBATH DAY." There is one mention of the sabbath in Hamlet :  MARCELLUS: Good now, sit down, and tell me, he that knows, Why this same strict and most observant watch So nightly toils the subject of the land, And why such daily cast of brazen cannon And foreign mart for implements of war, Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task Does not divide the Sunday from the week. What might be toward that this sweaty haste Doth make the night joint laborer with the day? Normally days were for work, while nights and the Sabbath were for rest; but preparations for war with Norway, stemming from an old feud based on pride, have not only affected the monarchy and soldiers, but have disrupted the entire social fabric. While Claudius orders cannons to be fired as he plays his drinking game, normal boundaries for work, rest, and worship have b...

WHY "SWOUNDS" in Hamlet 2.2 and 5.1?  Third Commandment (series) In recent posts in this series, I offered that perhaps there are good reasons why Shakespeare has characters use specific “minced oaths” such as “Marry” (Mary, mother of Jesus) [1], or “God’s Bodkins” (God’s little bodies, or Eucharist) [2], even if in so doing they violate the third commandment against taking in vain the name of God (or other holy persons or things) [3].  In 2.2 and 5.1, Hamlet uses the minced oath “Swounds,” or in other words, “Christ’s wounds” or “God’s wounds,” a popular focus of medieval and even renaissance piety (see image notes). Why does he use "Swounds" in these two scenes, instead of any number of others used elsewhere in the play [4] by Hamlet or other characters?  Both of these scenes either use more violent rhetoric, or foreshadow stronger physical violence, so associating the moment with “Swounds” makes sense:  In 2.2, Hamlet speaks only to himself, but scolds himself ...

GOD'S BODYKINS: Hamlet and the THIRD COMMANDMENT (series) What is Hamlet really implying when he says to Polonius, "God's bodykins, man, better!" (2.2) Polonius was going to arrange for lodgings for the players, and says he will seek in the castle for some kind of lodgings they deserve. Hamlet says, "better!"  But "God's bodykins"?  The etymology of “bodykins” may be read as “God’s little bodies” (from the English word “body” plus the middle dutch “kins” for “little” [1]).  In other words, Eucharist. Another "minced oath."  In Shakespeare's time, God's little bodies implies Eucharist, or those who have received it and are members of Christ's mystical body [2].  Consider:  If Hamlet is saying to Polonius,  "Eucharist, man! Treat the players better than you think they deserve!"  this is like saying,  “Polonius, remember Eucharist! All of us here, including the players, have at one time or another received the Euc...

In Hamlet , why is “Mary” spelled “Marry”? The spelling helped to obscure the “minced oath” invoking the name of St. Mary, mother of Jesus [1], breaking the Third Commandment, not to take the name of God (and other holy persons and things) in vain [2]. In performance, audiences would hear “Mary,” but to get the play approved for performance in the first place, the players would submit the ("Marry"-spelling) script to the Master of Revels for approval or changes.  For publication, Elizabethan censors could also approve a text or require changes. “Marry” is interesting for many reasons: The allusion is to Mary, mother of Jesus. Joseph almost didn’t “Marry” her: He learned she had become pregnant before their marriage and considered quietly calling it off, but after a vision in a dream, he married her anyway. The play is about a resentful, vengeful ghost who thinks his wife should have been faithful, even after death (1.5). It’s also about an “incestuous” marriage of a...

HAMLET, Polonius, Marry, and the THIRD COMMANDMENT (series) Polonius wins at cursing the most in a single scene in Hamlet [1], and the forms of cursing he chooses to use convey irony. Characters in Hamlet swear or curse (taking the name of God or saints or religious things in vain) [2] as many as 21 times [3]. In a single scene, Polonius swears more than any other character in the play does in a single scene: Twice in the play he swears "by the Mass!" (in 2.1 and 3.2). Six times he swears "Marry" (twice in 1.3, and four times in 2.1), a reference to St. Mary, virgin mother of Jesus. (“Marry” occurs 12 times in the play.)  Instead of saying "for Christ's sake!", to exclaim "Marry" was like saying, "oh, by the virgin mother of Jesus!"  “Marry” is appropriate: When Polonius gives Ophelia a book to read in 3.1, he tells her:  Read on this book, That show of such an exercise may color Your loneliness.—We are oft to blame in this (’Tis...