Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

OPHELIA: “They say the owl was a baker’s daughter.” What are owls famous for eating — even a dozen in a single night? Mice. What does Hamlet call the play by which he hopes to catch the conscience of the king? “The Mousetrap” [1]. Ophelia sat with Hamlet at his playlet, heard him call it “The Mousetrap.” She soon references a folktale in which a baker’s daughter is ungenerous with a beggar at the door (Jesus or a fairy in disguise), and as punishment, is changed into an owl [2]. Into a living mousetrap. (And the owl asks, “Who? Who?” First words of the play: “Who’s there?”) The name “Gertrude” may point to a Christian saint famous for getting rid of mice [3]. I have argued that, by drinking the poison cup, Gertrude builds a better mousetrap, catching the conscience of Claudius [4]. So there is a trilogy of mouse-trapping characters in the play: Hamlet, Ophelia, and Gertrude. But Ophelia’s owl reference is usually not viewed by scholars, critics, teachers and students as a reference t...

In a recent April 30th blog post named "Alas, poor ghost," John Langdon works his magic and weaves insights involving a variety of sources at his blog, Ghost of Shakespeare. General link to his blog : https://ghostofshakespeare.com/ Link to the specific post : https://ghostofshakespeare.com/2022/04/30/alas-poor-ghost/ But I was surprised and delighted to find that he includes mention of my blog posts on the Jonah echo in Hamlet's sea-voyage. [Michelangelo's Jonah on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, via Wikipedia . Public domain. Fair use.] A few paragraphs from the end of his post, John writes, "Go on, I'll follow thee", Hamlet says to the ghost. Ahab shouts, ". . .let me then tow to pieces, while still chasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned whale!"** Later, at the end of his blog post, John includes the ** note: **For more about whales and Hamlet, including parallels with the biblical Jonah, please see the essays...

Winter is for the birds. (This is a very poor paraphrase of John Langdon's recent "Ghost of Shakespeare" post about winter, birds, transcendence, death, new years, and more. Always worth reading.) http://ghostofshakespeare.com/2019/02/09/fowls-of-the-air/