Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

Hamlet is the only Shakespeare play that references not merely the word "Christmas" or the secularized holiday, but the biblical/religious focus of Christmas: "that season [...] Wherein our Savior’s birth is celebrated" (1.1.173-4). Besides Jesus, the play alludes to Caesar three times [1] and twice to “tax” (verb) [2]. This involves two claims to divinity: Jesus as "Son of God," and emperors proclaimed divine after death. Hamlet also (idolatrously?) likens his father to Hamlet compares his father to Hyperion (in 1.2.144 and 3.4.66), and also to Jove (3.4.66), Mars (3.4.67), and Mercury (3.4.68), and says a man is "in apprehension... like a god” [3]. These allusions link Hamlet to a familiar Christmas gospel reading, which sets the stage for how a census allegedly [4] displaced Mary and Joseph of Nazareth, required to go to Bethlehem: “And it came to pass in those days, that there came a decree from Augustus Caesar, that all the world should be taxe...

If Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is related to Christmas and Epiphany, how so? Some would say only by title [1] and only in a secular sense for having Sir Toby Belch as a “Lord of Misrule,” a secular Christmas tradition [2]. There’s no baby Jesus, no shepherds, no angels, no Magi.  But consider: Viola and Sebastian come from far away, like the Magi. They are shipwrecked, like St. Paul, saved from water, or like the inhabitants of Noah’s ark (which Sir Toby mentions) after storms and flood. The scripture readings for both St. Paul’s shipwreck and Noah’s ark were read every year in English churches during the Christmas season [3]. The twins are refugees in enemy land, like the Holy Family in Bethlehem under Herod the Great [4]. “Wise men/man” is spoken six times in the play by various characters [5].   The use of Sir Toby Belch as “Lord of Misrule,” and the downfall of the proud and Puritanical Malvolio, echo what the Virgin Mary says in reply to the angel Gabriel on being told ...

At Christmas be mery, and thanke god of all: and feast thy pore neighbours, the great with the small. Yea, al the yere long, have an eie to the poore: and god shall sende luck, and bring you much more. - Thomas Tusser, 1557   Via Brigitte Webster on Instagram @tudor_experience https://www.instagram.com/p/DD9Apq-oIOF/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ YOU CAN SUPPORT ME on a one-time "tip" basis on Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/pauladrianfried IF YOU WOULD PREFER to support me on a REGULAR basis, you may do so on Ko-Fi, or here on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PaulAdrianFried ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 re...

“...that season … / Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated…” There is a tendency at times for some to approach the Christmas reference in Hamlet as if it is merely about Catholic superstition. But it’s far richer than that. The ghost appears; the cock crows; the ghost disappears (an allusion to Peter’s denial during the passion [1]). Then: MARCELLUS: Some say that ever ’gainst that season comes Wherein our Savior’s birth is celebrated, This bird of dawning singeth all night long; And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad… (1.1.173-176) The cock crowing and season of Christmas point to a large sweep of Christian salvation history.   Even regarding the Christmas reference alone, we might treat it as an invitation to view the play in the mirror of the Christmas season tales, which are in part hospitality tales: Some welcome guests and strangers; others inconvenience, neglect, or kill them. There is a similar contrast in Hamlet : — The Christmas tale requires Annunciation and...

It is often noted that in its first scene, Shakespeare's Hamlet contains one of the only explicit references to Christmas: Some say that ever ’gainst that season comes Wherein our Savior’s birth is celebrated, This bird of dawning singeth all night long; And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad, The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallowed and so gracious is that time. (1.1.173-179) [1] But the Christmas narrative is actually much longer than merely the story of Jesus' birth. It includes numerous other stories or episodes, each celebrated in gospel readings assigned to particular days in the church calendar. If we don't include all of Judaeo-Christian salvation history but merely the conception, birth, and childhood of Jesus, it begins with Mary being told by the Angel Gabriel that she has conceived by the Holy Spirit. This is called the Annunciation. Shakespeare's Hamlet alludes t...

Cassidy Cash has an episode, " Is Hamlet a Christmas Play? " This older podcast/episode from 2019 is still available on YouTube: In it, she discusses Steve Roth's essay, " Hamlet as The Christmas Prince: Certain Speculations on Hamlet, the Calendar, Revels, and Misrule. " It's an interesting topic and podcast episode. Roth's essay appeared in Early Modern Literary Studies 7.3 (January, 2002): 5.1-89 Roth is also the author of the book, Hamlet: The Undiscovered Country . In it, he argues that Hamlet is about 16 years old. See also Rhodri Lewis, Hamlet and the Vision of Darkness , and his article in Shakespeare Magazine UK from August of 2018, issue 14: "How old is Hamlet?" ). One need not agree with them on this point, especially if one is Ian McKellen.... While the play may have been written for, opened, and played during Advent and the 12 Days of Christmas, the play contains references to scripture readings that wer...

If you have not yet seen the Shakespearean Christmas Carol variations from @GoodTickleBrain, do check them out. Be sure to try "Hamlet, the Danish Princeling," to the tune of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"— but there are many more, and great fun. https://goodticklebrain.com/holiday-songbook ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All six of my holiday posts: Twelfth Night & Epiphany, Malvolio & the Cecils, and Antonio & Essex (Holiday Post #6) https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2020/01/twelfth-night-epiphany-malvolio-cecils.html Rise of Skywalker, Oedipus, & George Eliot: Saved by Heroes or Collective? (Holiday Post #5) https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2020/01/rise-of-skywalker-oedipus-george-eliot.html Frozen II: Dams, Aboriginal Peoples, & Addressing Historical Injustices (Holiday Post #4) https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2020/01/frozen-ii-dams-aboriginal-peoples.html Wonder Woman, Paul Ricœur, & Refusing the Seco...

FOR SHAKESPEARE, MUST AN ALLUSION TO THE INCARNATION IMPLY A DIVINE INFANCY NARRATIVE? Two weeks ago, I posted regarding how Hamlet 1.1 refers to many Christian mysteries: Incarnation, teachings, passion, resurrection, and end times. The allusion to the incarnation takes the form of an allusion to “that season... / Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated.” But the gospels show that the Christian idea of God can be incarnate in more ways than a Bethlehem-born infant: —The Emmaus tale shows how one can find the risen Jesus in the stranger who does for us things like those things that Jesus did. —Ophelia’s mention of the story about how “the owl was a baker’s daughter” is an example of how we sometimes reject the presence of Jesus in the stranger or beggar, with negative consequences. So we should not assume that mention of “our savior’s birth” is a foreshadowing of another infancy narrative in the play. That never comes. Hamlet finds God’s hand at work in the pirates; p...

CHRISTMAS IN HAMLET’S DENMARK In Hamlet (1.1), Marcellus says, “Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long: And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad; The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.” This is the longest positive quote in Shakespeare’s plays that is explicitly about Christmas (but as scholars have long noted, it also seems to embody a kind of pagan or superstitious belief that is not based on scripture, but on tradition - so it would have been associated with Catholicism for many in Shakespeare's audiences. Notice how Horatio replies politely that he "half-believes" what Marcellus has said about Christmas...). 1. Is this a foreshadowing? At some point in the play when the ghost (or spirit) no longer appears (“stirs abroad”), will this mark a rebirth ...