Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

To understand all the classical references in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, it helps to be familiar with certain ancient Greek myths. These include the tales of Hecuba, Agamemnon and his wife Clytemnestra, their daughters Iphigenia and Electra, and their son, Orestes. I recently posted about Tanya Pollard’s good article on Hecuba and Shakespeare ,[1] so this post will focus on Clytemnestra, Iphigenia, and Orestes. Due to poor winds, Agamemnon was unable to sail to the Trojan war to help his brother, King Menelaus of Sparta, whose wife Helen had been seduced and taken by Paris, prince of Troy. A priest claimed that if Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia, the gods might be appeased and the winds might improve. One can already tell that this tale will not end well. Thinking Iphigenia is sacrificed,[2] Clytemnestra is grieved and traumatized. In one version, Agamemnon had killed Clytemnestra’s first husband and taken her as a prize, so this adds to her sense of violation. Wi...

Hamlet's references to Jephthah and Hecuba may have more to do with each other in the broader context of the tales of the Trojan War than Hamlet footnotes lead one at first to believe. Many students today make up the largest group of fresh audiences or readers of Shakespeare's Hamlet . As such, most come to the play without knowing who Jephthah or Hecuba were (I certainly did not when I first read the play in high school). Both Jephthah and Hecuba are alluded to by the prince in Act 2, scene 2, a long scene.* Hamlet remains on stage consistently from the Jephthah reference through all the Hecuba speech and references ("What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba?").                [Dame Judi Dench as Hecuba in Hamlet , 1996, directed by Kenneth Branagh. Image via HamletsCloud . Fair use.] Shakespeare's original audiences fresh to the play would have included a greater percent of people more familiar with the Bible and ...