Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

Geoffrey Bullough (1957-1972), Isaac Asimov (1970), and Harold Jenkins (1982) all noted Shakespeare having changed the name of Hamlet's uncle “Feng” to “Claudius”: Asimov: "The reigning King of Denmark, who has succeeded the elder Hamlet[...] is Claudius. Shakespeare has chosen an aristocratic Roman name for the purpose. (It was the name of a patrician family in the time of the Republic and one from which several of the early emperors were descended—including Claudius, the fourth Emperor, under whom Britain was conquered in the years following Cymbeline's death.[1]) In Saxo Grammaticus' original tale, the new King was named Feng, and perhaps Shakespeare did well to change that." (87)  [2] Jenkins: "The King's name is knows from his first entry-direction and first speech-heading, after which, however, it is never used again."  [3] Jenkins continues: "It was evidently suggested by that of the Roman emperor who married Agrippina, his niece and th...

OPHELIA'S VALENTINE & CLAUDIUS.... In Shakespeare’s time, it was widely assumed that the martyr St. Valentine (d. 269 AD) was executed under orders from the Roman Emperor Claudius II, an idea not lost on many in his early audiences when Ophelia sings her Valentine song. They would make the connection: Claudius II ordered the execution of St. Valentine; Claudius of Denmark secretly ordered the execution of Ophelia’s Valentine, Hamlet. CONSIDER: Some form of “Valentine” occurs 70 times across seven Shakespeare plays [1]. “Saint Valentine” is mentioned only twice: once in A Midsummer Night’s Dream , and once in Hamlet . The only St. Valentine’s Day song is sung by Ophelia (taken from a familiar folk-song of the time) with interjections from Claudius. The pagan precursor of Valentine’s Day, Lupercal, is mentioned twice in Julius Caesar. It is often claimed that Pope Gelasius I disliked the pagan feast, and in 496 AD, set the feast of the martyr St. Valentine to be on February 14 to...

INDEX and INTRODUCTION (this post: see INTRODUCTION following this index) https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/11/index-why-claudius-not-feng-whats-in.html PART 1: Hamlet's uncle "Claudius" as lame, satyr, & polysemous - 26 Nov, 2024 https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/11/part-1-hamlets-uncle-claudius-as-lame.html PART 2: Hamlet, Claudas, and Arthurian legends (Claudius series) https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/12/hamlet-claudas-and-arthurian-legends.html PART 3: Arthurian Wastelands and rotten Denmark under Claudias https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/12/arthurian-wastelands-and-rotten-denmark.html PART 4: Claudius, Hamlet, and Chaucer's Physician's Tale (Part 4, Claudius series) https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2025/02/claudius-hamlet-and-chaucers-physicians.html PART 5: Ophelia's Valentine and Claudius - February 10, 2025 https://pauladrianfried.blog...