Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

Shakespeare's Hamlet offers glimpses of two ways of transcending dysfunctional parentage: a) The limited path of Freud's Oedipal complex, or b) Yorick and the paths of Francis of Assisi and Bernard of Clairvaux. In the first, the son kills the father-figure to reclaim a lost closeness to the mother. If the father is a tyrant and the son resorts to violence to replace him, this is a very limited, temporary transcendence, with the son too much like the father he replaces [1]. Francisco and Bernardo are the names of sentinels, the first two characters on stage in the play. Together, they are the names of the Pazzi assassins [2], but individually they are names of saints: - Francis of Assisi and Bernard of Clairvaux didn't kill their fathers, but Francis famously renounced his abusive father before the bishop, stripping off his clothes and giving them back to his father, saying that he had a father in heaven. - St. Bernard’s biological father and brothers eventually joined t...

HOW IS SHAKESPEARE’S HAMLET A REFORMATION PLAY, pointing to efforts by Catholics and Protestants to reform Christian institutions and hearts? 1. First on stage is Francisco. Francis of Assisi was a famous church reformer [1] (demonstrating that "reformation" - reforming the church - was a popular  topic centuries before Martin Luther). 2. Second is Bernardo. Bernard of Clairvaux was a famous Cistercian monastic reformer [2]. 3. Hamlet goes to university at Wittenberg, where Martin Luther nailed his theses to the door [3]. 4. The ghost tells Hamlet that he is being purged of sins (purgatory, believed in by many Catholics, doubted by many Protestants) [4]. 5. Hamlet tells the players not to overact. The actors say they have "reformed" that; Hamlet replies, "reform it altogether" [5], reformation wordplay. 6. Hamlet mentions a "convocation of politic worms," ‘your only emperor for diet” [6]: A council, the “Diet of Worms,” questioned Luther’s orthod...

HAMLET, SUPERMAN, AND FRANCIS OF ASSISI WALK INTO A BAR.  What do they talk about? Fathers.  Was it ever more honorable to disobey your father than to obey him?  SUPERMAN, in the latest film (dir. James Gunn, 2025), faces a choice: His biological father on Krypton had recorded messages for him. One had been damaged, at first thought irretrievable. When finally decoded, Superman learned that he was sent to earth because its inhabitants were weaker, so that he could dominate them.  Should he obey his biological father’s plans for domination?  He disobeys and heeds the advice of his adoptive parents, using his powers to serve.  The first sentinel in Hamlet?  FRANCISO, named after FRANCIS OF ASSISI, once a soldier and prisoner of war. His father, a rich merchant, was not quick to ransom him for early release.  Francis later heard a voice: “Repair my church.” At first he thought this was about church buildings, but soon realized it was about repairin...

LINKS TO LEPERS IN HAMLET: References to tales of famous lepers, confusion about them, and those who cared for them: 1. The ghost says the poison made his skin lazar-like (1.5), like that of the beggar Lazarus in Luke 16:19–31 [1];  - Claudius poured “the leperous distillment" in the “porches" of the ghost's ear (1.5): In some art, the beggar Lazarus is left untended on the porches of the rich man’s house.  - Ophelia’s “the owl was a baker’s daughter” (4.5) references a folktale retelling of the Luke 16 gospel tale;  - Horatio’s “angels sing thee to thy rest” (5.2) references the Requiem Mass lines based on the Lazarus story. 2. The saint-namesake of the sentinel Francisco (1.1) is Francis of Assisi, who cared for lepers, and famously kissed one [2]. (Katherine of Aragon’s confessor was a Franciscan, John Forest, burned at the stake for opposing Henry’s divorce.)   3. In medieval and Elizabethan times, leprosy and venereal disease were confused, and leprosy thou...

Cassidy Cash of That Shakespeare Life podcast fame recently posted regarding occurrences of the word “parley” in Shakespeare.[1] She explains that we may have heard the word from Pirates of the Caribbean films. In a parley, opposing sides cease hostilities, sometimes to clear the battlefield of wounded and dead, or to discuss terms of a truce.  In Hamlet , Polonius uses the word “parley” in an interesting way in his statements to Ophelia, discouraging her from believing Hamlet’s expressions and vows of love. It is clear in their discussion that Ophelia wishes to believe Hamlet’s vows and “tenders” of his affection, while Polonius repeatedly assumes that Hamlet is waging an adversarial war to win Ophelia as a prize and to violate her chastity as an enemy might violate an opponent’s borders.   Polonius tells Ophelia, From this time Be something scanter of your maiden presence. Set your entreatments at a higher rate Than a command to *parley.* (1.3.129-132) [2]   The contra...

When Hamlet acts mad like a court fool during The Mousetrap , he talks so much that Ophelia says he is “as good as a chorus” [1]. After he kills Polonius and is sent to England, Ophelia starts acting mad in Hamlet’s absence. Ophelia becomes like a mad fool-queen regent in the fool-king’s absence, the most verbose person among the court; she commands its attention like a court fool. Long (1971), Holleran (1989) and Olivas (2015) have recognized Ophelia in the role of the fool. Holleran cites Long who “suggests that in her madness Ophelia plays the traditional role of the 'fool' (a role she shares with Hamlet), whose songs serve as mirrors to reflect the personality of the listener” [2]. Olivas notes that Ophelia’s madness seems to free her up to be more outspoken, and through songs and symbolic gifts of flowers with traditional meanings, she speaks uncomfortable truths about the court. Court fools were not obligated to flatter members of the court, but rather, obligated by tradi...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ INDEX OF POSTS IN THIS SERIES: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/01/index-hamlet-in-32-as-boy-jesus-lost.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  After The Mousetrap, Hamlet subtly compares himself to the boy Jesus,[1] amazing elders in the Temple (Luke 2:41-52).[2] See Part 1 of this series [3] for a simple comparison of the Hamlet lines to the scripture verses in Luke 2.  Some of my readers caught the allusion right away with the texts side-by-side. Others were reluctant. It may help to look more closely. HOW THE ALLUSION WORKS Why might Hamlet (and Shakespeare) have thought that this moment parallels the Luke tale enough to warrant the allusion? (Not an exhaustive list.) DISTRESSED PARENTS - In Luke: Mary and Joseph had “heavy hearts” (v.48) to find that Jesus was missing. - In Hamlet: Claudius is “marvelous distempered” [4]; Gertrude, “in most great affliction of spirit" [5]. ASTONISHED & AMAZED - Luke uses the word “a...